German court rules YouTube’s censorship of COVID measures criticism was “unlawful”

[Valin]

Reclaim The Net

"The censorship machinery" of YouTube's monopoly overstepped the boundaries set by the rule of law.

Didi Rankovic

Oct. 13 2021

A group of German artists skeptical and critical of the government response to the COVID pandemic and promoting conversations around the topic, active online under the #allesaufdentisch (literally, “everything on the table”) hashtag, sued YouTube for deleting their videos – and won in court.

The two videos that got removed by the Google-owned giant consisted of interviews artists had with scientists and they did not take the censorship lying down but opted for legal action against YouTube.

The Cologne Regional Court has now found that the removals were illegal, ruling in the plaintiff’s favor with two preliminary injunctions, ordering YouTube to restore the videos.

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