14 DAY TRIAL // The European Union made its debut on the popular video service YouTube by uploading a "soft porn" clip to promote the European cinema. The video, currently with 283.770 views and 559 users who rated it as favorite, shows several sex scenes from multiple European movies. Under the title "Film lovers will love this!", the clip brings another type of videos on YouTube, the video sharing service that is very severe when it comes to the content uploaded on its page.
British Conservative MEP Chris Heaton-Harris said for the BBC News that this clip can be easily flagged as soft porn. "They do have an image problem but I think cobbling together 44 seconds of soft porn on the internet is not a brilliant way of solving it," he mentioned. "The European Union is not a bible belt, we believe in freedom of expression and artistic creativity," European Commission spokesman Martin Selmayr, replied according to BBC News.
The interesting fact comes from Poland, a country that criticized the online video sharing service and the European Commission for uploading a clip showing two men having sex. Martin Selmayr confirmed the complaints but he added that there is nothing controversial in the clip as it reflects only the reality.
"It is very important for the Commission to use all the means at its disposal when it comes to communicating with European citizens," Commission Vice-President Margot Wallstrom said on Friday when the EU channel was officially released. BBC News also mentioned that "none of the e-mailers to the EUtube site has objected about sexual content."
As you know, YouTube avoided stepping into the porn domain because it is a free service and this kind of content would mean that every user would be able to access the videos without any restriction. That's why several other companies tried to take the project and develop it into similar YouTube services that allow the users to upload any type of content, including adult material.