Google executive chairman Eric Schmidt defended on Thursday YouTube’s hosting of an anti-Islam film that sparked violent global protests, saying the answer to “bad speech is more speech” - not a ban.
Google, the parent company of the video-sharing site, has blocked access to “Innocence of Muslims” in a number of nations, including India, Egypt and Saudi Arabia, where it is deemed illegal.
But Schmidt stressed that the low-budget video met YouTube’s basic criteria for material that can be posted, which is why it remains accessible in many countries.
“Google has a very clear view on this, which is that we believe the answer to bad speech is more speech,” he told reporters in the South Korean capital Seoul.
Violence triggered by the film, which mocks the Prophet Mohammed, has claimed around 50 lives, including that of the US ambassador to Libya.
“We obviously do not endorse the use of the video or these ideas... hatred or violence or anything, but we openly believe that the best answer to it is more speech, not the other way around,” Schmidt said.
“Some countries disagree. There are some places where we had to actually block access to that video,” he added.
Other countries, including Pakistan and Sudan, blocked the access themselves.
Thai Muslims protest
Meanwhile, several hundred Muslims, many waving banners and shouting “execute people who mock Islam”, rallied outside the US embassy and Google offices in Bangkok on Thursday to denounce the video.
The demonstration saw a brief scuffle as protesters tried to surge towards the US embassy through lines of riot officers, but police said it passed largely peacefully with no one seriously injured.
Around 300 people took part in the rally, the latest in a wave of protests against “Innocence of Muslims”.
Addressing the crowd of mostly men from the back of a pick-up truck outside the consulate in Bangkok’s business district, one organiser asked in Thai: “What will we do with the Jewish, Christians and Americans if we see them?” He was met with cries of “Kill them!”
A procession of demonstrators later petitioned internet giant Google, asking the company to ban the film, which was hosted on its video sharing site YouTube.
“I acknowledge that this is an important issue,” said Google Thailand representative Peter Fretten, who met the group and spoke to them in Thai, offering to forward the protesters’ concerns to the company’s headquarters.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 28th, 2012.
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