Brazil court orders YouTube to remove anti-Islam film
The decision by a state court in Sao Paulo, home to a large Middle Eastern immigrant community, came hours after Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff criticised "Islamophobia" in Western countries in a speech at the United Nations.
The lawsuit against the controversial film was brought by a Brazilian Muslim group, the National Islamic Union, against YouTube owner Google Inc for posting on the Internet a film it said was offensive and a violation of the constitutional right to freedom of expression.
In his decision, Judge Gilson Delgado Miranda said the case juxtaposed freedom of expression and the need to protect individuals or groups of people from action that might incite religious discrimination. Miranda concluded that banning something illegal should not "offend" freedom of thought and expression, according to the ruling posted online by Estado de S. Paulo newspaper.
It wasn't the only Brazilian court ruling against Google on Tuesday.
Earlier, an elections court ordered the arrest of Google's most senior executive in Brazil after the company failed to take down YouTube videos attacking a local mayoral candidate.
The legal challenges underline broader questions about Google's responsibility for content uploaded by third parties to its websites, such as the anti-Islam video, which mocked the Prophet Mohammad (pbuh) and sparked a wave of protests and violence in the Muslim world.
Fifteen people were killed in Pakistan during demonstrations over the video on Friday. People involved in the film, an amateurish 13-minute clip of which was posted on YouTube, have said it was made by a 55-year-old California man, Nakoula Basseley Nakoula.
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thank you Brazilll;;;;;
@Observer: 1stly I appreciate yours and ET's wisdom because mistakenly I wrote France instead of Brazil but interestingly and unfortunately no one noticed of and corrected my this mistake and published it as it is and 2ndly that you raised this point "People can ridicule any religion, burn crosses, burn American flag, deny holocaust etc." then please keep it in your mind and never forget that 1st US' officials' prejudicial,hypocritical,dual-faced and double-standard policies regarding the muslims and muslim world themselves provide the ground for doing so in any means and manifestations and the muslims never deny and blaspheme holocaust as some non-muslims blaspheme the muslims and the muslims' sacred personalities because we the muslims always respect and honor all the non-muslims religions and their followers and non-muslims' sacred personalities........
@M.Ahmer Ali:
"If France can order Youtube to block anti-Islam movie then why USA can’t order to do so?????"
It is because of the First Amendment that protects free speech, even hate speech. People can ridicule any religion, burn crosses, burn American flag, deny holocaust etc. Where it stops is when one deliberately incites direct violence.to cause bodily harm or property damage. First Amendment is sacrosanct in guaranteeing personal rights to all citizen.
You guys should wait for the responses to it. Brazil isn't more special than any other court.
So that means that you want to jail a man from YouTube because he doesn't share the same outrage that you have? Free speech isn't always socially advantageous, but it gives a man the ability to change. Undoubtly the guy who made the movie should have to deal with every single problem that came with his "freedom of speech" but why should the guy from YouTube face possible jail time for having their service available to everyone?
facepalm Demanding censorship of something is the complete opposite of freedom of expression. You do not have the right to not be offended.
@Sajid Iqbal: The Holocaust happened. Deal with it. And yes there are many shameful movies glorifying the holocaust. Use google. Its a good tool to get rid of your ignorance. If all the muslims are so offended by everything then why dont they shun everything non muslim. If that were the case we wouldnt be having this discussion on the web.
@yak: There is nothing rational about this decision and since it offends me I should go and start burning stuff and killing people. What a joke muslims have become. Celebrating something insignificant like this. No prophet or god needs protection from us humans.
To all my non muslim friends. Mocking, insulting and disgracing our Prophet Muhammad is penalized by death in all muslim world. We do love our prophet more than our families and that qualifies us as true muslim.
Also and most importantly, the Brazilian judges, being professionals and be non muslims, must have watched all the aspects particullarly that movie before making their decision on this illegal and sinful act.
Nothig more to it and I must appriciate the competant Brazilian and French judges on making such rational decision in its true spirit.
They shouldn't be ordered to take it down. Freedom of speech, no matter how ignorant, retarded or cruel the guy who made it is. The minute one religion starts dictating the action of the world is the day the rest of the world might as well follow that religion. The video was horrible yes, and its only purpose was to harm, but how are you going to jail the company who allows anyone to post videos as if he is the problem? I know people are beyond furious and rightfully so but don't mess up another persons life because you was merely "offended"
Thats the right thing to do ie pulling off the offending stuff from the website. I don't see the point of banning the website altogether.People are using it anyways indirectly.plus I dont think this ban will prove to be long-lived..we have witnessed such bans in the past. BUT if YouTube doesn't remove those videos,then it's pointless to remove the ban.
Now I know, Whats the power of BRAZILLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL.
kind delightful surprise since it is a totally unexpected ruling from a non Islamic country . Well done to Brazilian Islamic group .
good
Thank you Brazil!!!
super dooper!
Bravo!!!