Unconventional Way To Block YouTube

When Google acquired YouTube we all predicted that Google would have lots of copyright problems with owners of content uploaded to the video sharing website illegally. But it has proven that recently YouTube is frequently mentioned in relation to various countries blocking access to YouTube for their citizens due to their dissatisfaction with YouTube's content. We have already reported on Turkey and Thailand blocking YouTube. In both situations it was a government's decision that was officially declared and was soon reported by news agencies.

Today I have seen news about a totally different situation. BBC published an article about Morocco blocking YouTube but this time the word block is quoted in the title of the article because there was no official blocking of the website in the country. Instead of this Moroccans who use state-controlled service provider Maroc Telecom to access the Internet have been unable to see YouTube since last Friday, May 25. The irony is that those Internet users who use alternative private service providers had no problems with accessing the video sharing website.

However Maroc Telecom said that the problems for those Moroccans is the result of a technical glitch in their system though I have witnessed lots of technical glitches but still I can hardly imagine a glitch that could only impact one single website. A spokesman for the Moroccan government refused to comment on telecommunications issues and this can be considered as a further proof that something is definitely not as simple as a technical glitch.

And the Moroccan government clearly has a reason to prevent its citizens from accessing YouTube – and this time the reason lies in the territorial disputes field. The thing is that YouTube hosted some videos showing pro-independence demonstrations in Western Sahara, the territory that was seized by Morocco in 1978 following its confrontation over the territory with Mauritania after the end of Spain's colonial rule in 1975. But since then, the separatist movement Polisario Front has been fighting for an independent state in Western Sahara and some videos on YouTube showed anti-Morocco demonstrations in this region.

Moroccan Internet users and bloggers definitely think that their inability to view YouTube is a result of government's action via the service provider it controls. And judging by the strange glitch quoted by the provider as a reason and especially by the duration of the glitch (5 days now) one can hardly doubt that there is some kind of blocking of the website. But of course in this case it is quite difficult for the government to declare anything or demand that YouTube removes disputable videos because even the UN prefers to remain neutral in the conflict and persuades both sides to look for a peaceful settlement.

At the same time this situation again shows that the amount of content that can result in certain countries blocking YouTube is enormous and it is even hard to predict what videos can dissatisfy this or that government. So I am absolutely sure similar situations will repeat again and again and YouTube will continue to suffer in this or that country. Funny thing is that even a complete content censorship can not help because there will always remain users dissatisfied with this or that videos – and some of them will be powerful enough to block access to YouTube to large groups of users.