Youtube ‘restricts’ OpIndia video where Rivaldo exposed propaganda around Kashmir narrative

Last week, OpIndia published a three-part video series by Nitin Rivaldo, when he talked about the Kashmir issue. Nitin argued that the Kashmir problem can’t be solved if we continue to ask the wrong questions, and exposed how the discourse around the Kashmir issue is flawed mostly due to the excuses provided by the ‘liberals’. The three videos were uploaded on the YouTube channel of OpIndia.

Now, it has come to light that the first video in the series has been flagged as age-restricted video by YouTube, which means it has been marked as inappropriate for minors. When one wants to watch the video on YouTube, a warning message may be shown that the video contains age-restricted content, and one has to agree to watch the video.

If the YouTube page accessed without logging to Google account, it blocks access to the video, saying one must log in to confirm the age. A notice appended below the description of the video informs that it has been marked as age-restricted based on Community Guidelines.

The YouTube guideline says that a video can be labelled as age-restricted if it contains vulgar language, violence and disturbing imagery, Nudity and sexually suggestive content, and Portrayal of harmful or dangerous activities. Based on these guidelines, we could not determine why the video was marked as age-restricted. Apart from a few seconds of footage from Kashmir violence, and few historical images of direct action day, none of the content in the video violates YouTube norms. The few seconds of footage of violence are taken from media which are already in public domain, hence it is a stretch to mark them as age-restricted. It suggests that someone at YouTube, not happy with videos of OpIndia, are trying very hard to find excuses to ban or restrict the videos.

YouTube, like several other Social Media sites, is known to have a left-liberal bias, and the site often removes videos with right-wing messages. Last year, its moderators had removed several right-wing channels by ‘mistake’. Last week, YouTube had removed a video which argued that Hijab is not a symbol of freedom and empowerment, as being presented by left liberals.