YouTube Banned by Russian Court

Hundreds of thousands of official and amateur videos from around the globe from cooking to music, fitness, pets, business, and politics are uploaded to YouTube daily. Users, like Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, even create their own YouTube channels. Purportedly targeting a single nationalist video, a Russian regional court took the extreme step of blocking the popular website among local internet providers, online libraries and a website that archives deleted web pages. “While television is tightly controlled by the state, Russia's soft authoritarian government has so far done little to rein in the internet,” Tom Parfitt writes for the Guardian. “Social media and blogging sites are popular and provide a vital outlet for opposition and civil movements.” Censorship brings new attention to banned topics and a search for loopholes. Still, critics fear that the YouTube ban signals plans for blanket censorship and a government crackdown on the internet. – YaleGlobal