Polish embassy to YouTube: Remove anti-Semitic film
Google's video-sharing website allows well-known Polish anti-Semite to display films degrading Jews. Film shows talking pigs, cries 'Jews, go home'
Polish Embassy Counsellor Marek Skulimowski was responsible for the appeal. In an interview with Ynet he said that the films do not by any means represent the general opinion in Poland.
Leszek Bubel, head of a marginal political party called the National Polish Party,
Bubel has published a number of magazines flaunting racial and anti-Semitic slurs, in which he included The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, an ancient anti-Semitic document dating back over a century, which claims that Jews conspired to take over the world.
In the letter addressed to YouTube, Skulimowski wrote that the films are degrading to Jews. "I hope you will find that Bubel's ideas have no place on your website, as in the Polish media," he wrote.
Not a perfect world
YouTube has been known to remove films from the site, and in fact does so when any film including pornography or copyright infringement is uploaded.
However, Skulimowski found it difficult to launch his complaint. He was forced to start an account with YouTube, as it was impossible for him to get in touch with them by email or telephone, but he was adamant. "It's not even a matter of freedom of speech," he said. "Publication of racist content is prohibited by the website. Anyone can read it in the rules."
Google refused to comment on the Polish embassy's complaint or the films in question. Their response read as follows:
"YouTube is a community site used by millions of people in very positive ways. Sadly as with any form of communication, there is a tiny minority of people who try to break the rules. On YouTube, these rules prohibit content like pornography, hate speech or gratuitous violence.
"We don't want that sort of material on our site, and nor does our community. When people see content that they think is inappropriate they can flag it and our staff then review it. If the content breaks our terms then we remove it and if a user repeatedly breaks the rules we disable their account. We also work with the relevant local legal authorities when it comes to content that may break local laws."
Google Israel CEO Meir Brand said in the past that the company would not censor the anti-Semitic content presented in Google searches.
"Google is a mirror for the real world," he said. "It's not a perfect world, and it contains anti-Semitism. If we remove it from the web-page it will not cease to exist."
He added that Google exposes the sources in part in order to learn how to refute the "ridiculous" claims with facts.
