Bad news about YouTube
On Tuesday 11th August 2009 we received an email from YouTube saying that our video showing the castration of piglets without anaesthetic had been deactivated because it didn’t comply with the YouTube community guidelines. We could only find one guideline that could lead to a video being deactivated:
Don’t post videos showing bad stuff like animal abuse, drug abuse, under-age drinking and smoking, or bomb making.
On one hand, we are glad to see that YouTube shares our opinion that the conditions shown in our film amount to animal abuse. On the other hand, castrating piglets without anaesthetic is allowed in Austria, Germany and the USA. Our film shows a totally legal practice, routinely carried out in pig farming.
We are trying to get in touch with Google directly (YouTube is a Google owned company) on the phone, but as yet, we haven’t had any luck getting through. It leaves a nasty taste in the mouth to think that a scene showing an absolutely legal practice should be deactivated.
We need your help!
Because we don’t seem to be getting anywhere, we need your help. If you know anyone who is familiar with reactivating deactivated YouTube films, then please let us know! If you have any ideas yourself, then please contact us via Twitter, Facebook or leave a comment for us here.
When we have any news, you’ll see it here first. We’ll keep you posted.
Here is the film currently deactivated on YouTube:
