YouTube's Former Chief Susan Wojcicki Dies Aged 56

Susan Wojcicki was one of Google's earliest employees | GETTY IMAGES
BBC: Susan Wojcicki, the former boss of YouTube and one of Google's earliest employees, has died aged 56.

Google's chief executive Sundar Pichai announced that Ms Wojcicki had passed away after two years of living with lung cancer.

Mr Pichai, who is also the boss of Google's parent company Alphabet, said on X/Twitter he was "unbelievably saddened" and Ms Wojcicki was "as core to the history of Google as anyone".

Once described as the "most important Googler you've never heard of", Ms Wojcicki was present at the company's beginnings when, in 1998, she rented out her Menlo Park garage, external to the search engine firm's founders, Sergey Brin and Larry Page.

She was later persuaded to leave her job at chip giant Intel to join Google, becoming the firm's 16th employee. » | Dearbail Jordan, BBC News | Saturday, August 10, 2024

YouTube retire des vidéos de Jair Bolsonaro pour désinformation

LE MONDE : La plate-forme souligne qu’elle a pris sa décision « après un examen minutieux » et sans tenir compte de l’idéologie politique du président brésilien.

YouTube a déclaré, mercredi 22 juillet, avoir supprimé des vidéos de la chaîne du président brésilien pour avoir diffusé de fausses informations sur l’épidémie de Covid-19. La plate-forme souligne qu’elle a pris sa décision « après un examen minutieux » et sans tenir compte de l’idéologie politique de Jair Bolsonaro. » | Le Monde avec AFP | jeudi 22 juillet 2021

YouTube pulls videos by Bolsonaro for spreading misinformation on the virus. »

Inside Story: Can Online Content Be Policed?

YouTube is the world's most popular video-sharing site. Billions of users watch and upload videos on the website, which makes it a natural fit for advertisers. But the company has come under fire after a UK-based newspaper found adverts running along side inappropriate videos of children and comments.

The Times investigation found there were many videos of pre-teen girls, which were then liked and commented on by hundreds of paedophiles. One such clip of a young girl drew 6.5 million views. Several companies including chocolate-maker MARS and Deutsche bank have pulled their ads from YouTube.

The newspaper said the site had allowed sexualised imagery of children to be easily searchable. It also criticised the company for not monitoring its content. So, will YouTube do more to monitor and remove certain content?

Presenter: Laura Kyle | Guests: Nishanth Sastry - Senior Lecturer in Informatics at King's College London; Susan Rose - Marketing and Reputation Expert at Henley Business School; Aral Balkan - Who describes himself as a "cyborg" Rights Activist

Youtube Is Censoring Free Speech? | Dave Rubin On Tucker Carlson

Turkey Moves to Block YouTube Access after 'Audio Leak'

BBC: Turkey has moved to block access to YouTube, a day after a court ordered the suspension of a ban on Twitter, which PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan backed.

The telecoms authority (TIB) said it had taken an "administrative measure" against the site but another report suggests that talks are under way.

Some users found access blocked while others could still use the site.

Earlier, what appeared to be a leaked audio recording of Turkish officials discussing Syria appeared on YouTube.

It relates to a discussion of possible military operations in Syria, which was apparently attended by Turkey's intelligence chief, its foreign minister and the deputy head of the armed forces. » | Thursday, March 27, 2014

'Age of Mockery': 10,000 Protest Anti-Muslim Video at Google’s UK HQ

To the article » | Monday, October 15, 2012
Related »

New Dark Age Alert! Muslims Protest 'Age of Mockery' as Thousands Descend on Google HQ

THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH: Thousands of Muslims have pledged a series of protests against Google HQ for a "hateful and offensive" anti-Islam video, saying they now live in an "age of mockery".

A protest by 10,000 Muslims outside the offices of Google in London today is just the first in an orchestrated attempt to force the company to remove an anti-Islamic film from website YouTube in Britain.

Thousands had travelled from as far afield as Glasgow to take part in the demonstration, ahead of a planned million-strong march in Hyde Park in coming weeks.

Anger over 'The Innocence of Muslims', an American-produced film which insults the Prophet Mohammad and demeans Muslims, according to protesters, remains available to watch on the website YouTube, a subsidiary of Google.

Organiser Masoud Alam said: "Our next protest will be at the offices of Google and YouTube across the world. We are looking to ban this film.

"This is not freedom of expression, there is a limit for that. This insult of the Prophet will not be allowed.

The group's next action was a march Mr Alam hoped would be "a million strong" would take place in Hyde Park "in the next few weeks", he said.

"Until it is banned we will keep protesting," he added. » | Jennifer O'Mahony | Sunday, October 14, 2012

Pakistan sperrt YouTube

Google Removes 640 Videos from YouTube Promoting Terrorism
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Google removed 640 videos from YouTube in the second half of last year amid fears they promoted terrorism.

The Association of Chief Police Officers (Acpo) made a request for five user accounts to be closed for allegedly promoting terrorism.

Google agreed and deleted the 640 videos.

The web giant has previously been criticised by politicians in Britain and the United States for hosting extremist propaganda on YouTube, its video sharing website, including as the sermons of Anwar al-Awlaki, a senior al-Qaeda cleric, who killed by a US drone strike last year.

Awlaki’s online sermons inspired Roshonara Choudhry, 21, to become the first al-Qaeda fanatic to attempt a political assassination in the UK when she stabbed MP Stephen Timms at his constituency surgery in May. » | Monday, June 18, 2012

Dmitry Medvedev Dancing to American Boy

RUSSIA TODAY: Dancing Medvedev grooves internet »

YouTube Begins Removing al-Qaeda Videos
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: YouTube has begun removing al-Qaeda videos from its website after the British Government contacted the White House to complain about the material.


A number of clips by Anwar al-Awlaki, believed to have been the mastermind of the cargo bomb plot, were deleted from the video sharing site last night. However scores more, including incendiary calls to wage war on non-Muslims, remain.

A Google search for one of the most provocative videos - entitled 44 Ways to Support Jihad - on Google brings up more than a hundred results from YouTube. Two of the three top results have now been blocked although the bulk of the rest remain available.

Users clicking on the deleted content were confronted with a message saying "This video has been removed because its content violated YouTube's terms of service."

YouTube says its community guidelines "prohibit dangerous or illegal activities such as bomb-making, hate speech or incitement to commit specific and serious acts of violence”.

A source at Google, which owns the video sharing site, confirmed that staff had begun to take down al-Awlaki's videos after being alerted by the Telegraph's report. >>> Duncan Gardham, Gordon Rayner and John Bingham | Wednesday, November 03, 2010

“To Offend Religion Is Possible in a Democratic Society”

RUSSIA TODAY: “To offend religion is possible in a democratic society”: Why there should be an exception for just one religion, Islam, not to create cartoons about it when all the other major religions accept this, is the problem bothering Swedish cartoonist Lars Vilks. >>> | Monday, May 24, 2010

RUSSIA TODAY: Drawing attention to Mohammed: Five years after a Danish paper was fiercely criticized by Muslims for depicting the Prophet Mohammed in derogatory cartoons, Facebook and YouTube are under fire from Pakistan. >>> | Published Friday, May 21, 2010; Edited Monday, May 24, 2010

TerrorTube: Internet Video Has Become a Nest of Jihadi Propaganda
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS: Radical Islamist fanatics are turning YouTube into their personal broadcast platform with disturbingly accelerating frequency. Their videos illustrate how jihadists are exploiting the Internet to inspire violence, and they demand increased vigilance by the Google-owned company.

The Middle East Media Research Institute this week flagged postings by, among others, America's Jihad Jane and Anwar Al-Awlaki, the Yemen-based cleric whose involvement in terror plots prompted the U.S. to target him for assassination.

After his arrest, would-be Times Square bomber Faisal Shahzad is reported to have cited Al-Awlaki as a guiding light. And a Pakistani Taliban group posted a video on YouTube to claim authorship of the plot:

"We, the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, very bravely claim the responsibility for this attack in America. And we congratulate Muslims on this."

Days later, the group posted a video with a chilling message:

"The time is very near when our fedayeen will attack the American states in their major cities ... our fedayeen have penetrated the terrorist America, we will give extremely painful blows to the fanatic America. I request you all to be steadfast and firm in your jihad." >>> Saturday, May 08, 2010

Der Karikaturenstreit flammt im Internet wieder auf
WELT ONLINE: In Pakistan ist weder YouTube noch Facebook erreichbar, weil dort der Prophet Mohammed zu sehen ist. Der Streit spaltet das Land, die Bevölkerung ist zerissen. Die eine Seite möchte Teil der Moderne sein. Die andere hält an den strengen Traditionen fest. Die Regierung bleibt neutral und erntet deshalb den Zorn aller Bürger.

Tradition der Empörung: Konservative Muslime verbrennen in Lahore Flaggen aus Protest gegen Mohammed-Zeichnungen, diesmal die norwegische und die US-Flagge. Foto: Welt Online
„Diese Seite ist gesperrt.“ Die knappe Mitteilung in unaufdringlichen schwarzen Buchstaben erwartet seit ein paar Tagen jeden Internetnutzer in Pakistan, der Facebook, YouTube oder andere soziale Netzwerke im Internet öffnen will. Die pakistanische Telekommunikationsbehörde PTA hat nach einem Gerichtsbeschluss in Lahore den Zugriff unterbunden. Eine Reaktion „auf die zunehmend ablehnende Stimmung in der Bevölkerung auf die Seiten“, wie eine Sprecherin erklärt.

Ein anonymes Facebook-Mitglied hatte zu einem umstrittenen Zeichenwettbewerb aufgerufen: Beim „Jeder-malt-Mohammed-Tag“ sollten Bilder des islamischen Propheten eingestellt werden. Gedacht war das Projekt als Kampagne für die Meinungsfreiheit. Doch die bildliche Darstellung des Propheten Mohammed ist im Islam verboten.

Als Studenten in mehreren Städten dagegen protestierten, reagierten die Behörden mit der landesweiten Sperre für zuletzt 450 Seiten, darunter die englische Ausgabe der Online-Enzyklopädie Wikipedia und die Foto-Plattform Flickr. Etwa ein Viertel des gesamten pakistanischen Internetverkehrs war lahmgelegt, um „Anstößigkeiten“ und „unislamische Inhalte“, vor allem aber wohl Demonstrationen radikaler Muslime zu unterbinden. >>> Von Sophie Mühlmann | Freitag, 21. Mai 2010

Pakistan Bans YouTube, Facebook in Crackdown on 'Draw Muhammad Day'

Lessons in Revolution, via YouTube
THE SUNDAY TIMES: EVERY evening before dinner, Mohsen Sazegara disappears into the basement of his cosy suburban house in Virginia and makes a 10-minute home movie to post on YouTube.

Far from showcasing the talents of his sons or pets, Sazegara’s videos are of protest tactics aimed at bringing down a regime. His house is the epicentre of what he hopes will be the world’s first technological revolution and his videos are watched more than 6,000 miles away in Iran.

Six months after the disputed presidential election in Iran, the opposition has refused to give up despite a crackdown that has seen arrests, beatings, torture and show trials. Co-ordination of the so-called green revolution has increasingly moved overseas, where exiles are using the new media to spread the message.

Last week, when tens of thousands of students took to the streets of Iran in some of the biggest demonstrations since the elections, Sazegara had been sending instructions via Facebook, YouTube and email.

He stands in front of a green baize screen decorated with a V for victory and the movement’s slogan, “Green means resistance until spring comes”. After a brief assessment of the day’s events, he offers Iranians new ideas for fighting the regime.

They have good reason to listen. Thirty years ago, as a young revolutionary, he helped to topple the Shah, putting today’s Islamic regime in power and working as a speechwriter for its founding father, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. Sazegara was one of the founders of the Revolutionary Guard. Now he is teaching protesters how to tackle the force.

“In one part of my life I was involved in creating something; now, after 30 years, I’m trying to destroy it,” he said. >>> Christina Lamb in Virginia | Sunday, December 13, 2009

Mohsen Sazegara on CNN Explains Who Rules Iran

Saudi Arabia: 'Pure' Islamic Alternative to YouTube Launched
LOS ANGELES TIMES: In a move to preserve religious and moral values in cyberspace, a group of unidentified Saudis have launched a "clean" Islamic alternative to the leading video-sharing site YouTube.

It's called NaqaTube.

Naqa means "pure" in Arabic. The website offers a collection of edited and Islamically "clean" clips from YouTube under the banner, “Participate with us in a clean website."

Site administrators censor video clips that express critical views of the government, Islamic scholars and members of the Saudi royal family.

In keeping with Saudi Arabia's strict religious and moral codes, music videos and clips featuring women are also banned. Any music videos on NaqaTube must adhere to Islamic rules.

Abu Ibraheem, the handle of a NaqaTube moderator, assured in an interview with the Saudi English-language daily Arab News that all footage on NaqaTube is "religiously safe."

The clips, he said, are often edited before being posted. Visitors also can use its online tool to edit their own footage before uploading it to the site.

Abu Ibraheem told the paper that he hopes NaqaTube will some day rival YouTube, perhaps by decreasing the number of visitors to YouTube.

But for now NaqaTube will have to wait. It has attracted only 5,000 to 6,000 visitors since its launch this summer, Abu Ibraheem said.

Plans are in the pipeline to launch NaqaTube in languages other than Arabic.

The vast majority of clips on NaqaTube have religious themes. Visitors are offered a spectrum of more than 10 channels, including a science-themed one and a site featuring children's cartoon clips.

Viewers are also offered countless clips of religious scholars giving lectures and debating Islamic rules on talk shows.
Abu Ibraheem stressed that NaqaTube is promoting "moderate" Islamic teachings and "nothing extreme."

NaqaTube isn't the first religious counterpart of YouTube. Other examples include JewTube, Islamic[t]ube, and GodTube (now called tangle.com), which describes itself as using "technology to connect Christians for the purpose of encouraging and advancing the Gospel worldwide."

NaqaTube comes as Saudi Arabia tries to censor Internet content deemed harmful to its values.

The initiative, titled Saudi Flag[g]er, includes 200 volunteers who search YouTube for inappropriate content.

Once a racy clip is found, a member of the campaign flags it. Users are then encouraged to complain to YouTube administrators that the video contains “hateful or abusive content” that “promotes hatred or violence” against religious groups, according to the campaign's website. >>> Alexandra Sandels in Beirut | Sunday, September 06, 2009

The Pope Ventures into Cyberspace
BBC: Pope Benedict XVI has launched his own dedicated channel on the popular video sharing website, YouTube.

Video and audio footage of his speeches as well as news of the Holy See will be posted on the site, the Vatican says.

Although the Vatican has its own website, the YouTube venture represents its biggest reach into cyberspace, says the BBC's Duncan Kennedy in Rome.

Vatican officials say it is aimed at everyone from devout Catholics to the casual web user. Pope Launches Vatican on YouTube >>> | Friday, January 23, 2009

The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Paperback & Hardback) – Free delivery >>>

Pat Condell Thanks YouTube for Banning His Video

The Dawning of a New Dark Age – Paperback (US) Barnes & Noble >>>
The Dawning of a New Dark Age – Hardcover (US) Barnes & Noble >>>

Kuwait Human Rights Society: YouTube Must Erase Anti-Islam Material
“Uttering profanities against Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) is the worst form of human rights violation in the world” – Dr Adel Al-Damkhi, Chairman of KHRS
ARAB TIMES | KUWAIT CITY : Kuwait Human Rights Society (KHRS) Chairman Dr Adel Al-Damkhi has asked the government to put pressure on the officials of ‘YouTube’ — a video sharing website — to delete all derogatory statements about Islam and Muslims from the site, reports Al-Seyassah.
Urging the authorities to take the necessary legal action in case the website fails to erase the statements, Al-Damkhi stressed “uttering profanities against Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) is the worst form of human rights violation in the world. Attacks on the values and tenets of Islam are extremely dangerous and unacceptable.”


Al-Damkhi pointed out the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) strongly condemns attacks on the holy prophets and religions. He confirmed KHRS recognizes the importance of freedom of conducting scientific research, exchange of information, and significance of the latest technologies and media on human lives, but it is against how ‘YouTube’ depicts Islam. He said this is an outright violation of the human rights of millions of Muslims all over the world. [Source: Kuwait Crime News: Arab Times]

The Dawning of a New Dark Age – Dust Jacket Hardcover, direct from the publishers (US) >>>
The Dawning of a New Dark Age – Paperback, direct from the publishers (US) >>>