Associated Press
Adolf Hitler in 1931.
- YouTube blocked some channels posting historical footage about Adolf Hitler and Nazis for educational purposes, the Guardian reports.
- The videos were taken down in the wake of YouTube's announcement it would crack down on bigoted content and videos that glorify Nazi and other extremist ideologies.
- YouTube told Business Insider that sometimes in these cases it makes the "wrong call," and that its team works quickly to reinstate videos removed "mistakenly."
- Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.
In its attempt to crack down on videos promoting hate speech and extremist ideologies, YouTube has inadvertently blocked some channels featuring archival footage of Nazis and Adolf Hitler.
The Guardian reports that some history teachers have seen their channels deleted, with YouTube citing "content that promotes hatred or violence against members of a protected group." The teachers says their channels featured footage of Nazi-era Hitler speeches and clips from old documentaries, which are used for educational purposes and shown in classrooms.
"It's absolutely vital that YouTube work to undo the damage caused by their indiscriminate implementation as soon as possible," Romanian teacher Scott Allsop told the Guardian. "Access to important material is being denied wholesale as many other channels are left branded as promoting hate when they do nothing of the sort."
The actions taken against these educational channels come after YouTube's announcement last week it was further cracking down on "videos alleging that a group is superior in order to justify discrimination, segregation or exclusion." YouTube said the updated policy included a ban on content promoting or glorifying Nazi ideology.
The role of YouTube in spreading misinformation and failing to police hate speech has been widely debated. Last week, YouTube failed to act quickly when a popular creator spurred homophobic and racist slurs at a Vox journalist. The incident garnered massive amounts of attention, and Google CEO Sundar Pichai said this weekend that the Google-owned video platform isn't "quite where we want to be" in its efforts.
The two teachers cited in the Guardian's article have reportedly had their channels and videos reinstated following an appeal. Although YouTube didn't respond about the Guardian's story in particular, a spokesperson told Business Insider that YouTube "may make exceptions" to its policies on hateful content if there's "sufficient educational or documentary context."
The spokesperson also said that YouTube will "act quickly to reinstate" videos that are removed by mistake.