14 DAY TRIAL // It's been a while since YouTube was criticized for the content published on its official page but the 'good' old times are back again. The famous video sharing platform is now in trouble because it seems like the engineers removed a video showing two gay teenagers, Luke and Noah, kissing for five seconds. According to EDGE Boston, "the two young men have said that the video was submitted as proof of the special relationship between them, showing their affection for each other and hoping to remind the world that a kiss is just a kiss."
Obviously, the gay communities started a new offensive against the video sharing service, criticizing its guidelines and attacking the removal of gay content. While several violent videos are allowed on the page, the gay clips should be permitted as well, they said. But this is not all.
"If YouTube had just passed its embryonic stage or just now only become the 'Net's latest little emperor without a good thinking-head on its shoulders, we can understand that. But we cannot say the same for Google, its new parent, who bought it for $1.65 billion in stock not too long ago," says gay activist Xavier Francis for the EDGE Boston.
Since YouTube has a huge database of clips, it's extremely difficult to filter all the content published on the page. I'm not saying that Google's video sharing had the right to censor the gay content but we can't accuse the technology of allowing other types of clips, such as the Nazi ones, on the page.
YouTube didn't mention that the gay content is blocked on its website and I don't think the removed click can be included in the pornography category so there must be another reason for the deletion. "YouTube is not for pornography or sexually explicit content. If this describes your video, even if it's a video of yourself, don't post it on YouTube. Also, be advised that we work closely with law enforcement and we report child exploitation," it is mentioned in the YouTube guidelines.
However, the gay communities are at least outraged by the YouTube decision to remove the clip. "As a parent, Google should tell its swelled-head kid to play fair and just. They should tell YouTube to be empathic and sympathetic toward others. While we applaud YouTube for publishing millions of videos 24/7, we were also distressed to note the absence of common courtesy and the lack of respect for gay teenagers and the LGBT community in YouTube's part," the same gay activist added for EDGE Boston.