YouTube is removing North Korean content and no one knows why
UPDATE: Jan. 25, 2017, 1:45 p.m. SGT This piece has been updated with comments from Google and Truszkowski, whose channel was reinstated after this article ran.
YouTube has done it again.
Two channels which featured content about North Korea were removed from the video-streaming service, according to a report.
The removal comes less than two months after YouTube blocked North Korea's state television channel, Korean Central Television.
One of the two latest terminated channels, "Pozdro z KRLD," featured travel videos to North Korea, and belonged to a Polish national living in Japan.
However, as of Wednesday afternoon, the channel has been restored and is back up -- albeit partially, according to owner Emil Truszkowski.
"My whole channel was first suspended on...Sunday evening", Truszkowski initially told news blog NK News.
"After around eight hours I found out that the channel is not "suspended" anymore. It got terminated," he said.
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Truszkowski added that he had not received any prior warning.
"It got suddenly banned without any explanation. I was getting a lot of subscribers lately then suddenly it got deleted," he told Mashable on Tuesday.
His channel also did not contain any copyright material which might have led to its suspension.
"Channel had no problems with copyrights. I'm quite active in the DPRK related community here in Japan [where] the topic of North Korea is very sensitive. Maybe I got reported by someone in Japan? I honestly don't know. I was just making travel videos with my friends and family," he said.
The other channel, owned by Vietnamese citizen Vu Nam Phuong, showed hundreds of self-made and duplicated state media recordings. It was also shut earlier this month.
"YouTube deleted my channel on 17 January with a message that the content [was] not suitable for the community", said Vu.
Vu added that over 350 videos had been deleted from his channel.
Videos were apparently flagged as spam.
Google-owned YouTube has now commented on the issue, saying removed videos are sometimes flagged by users or identified by their spam team.
"We review content flagged by our users quickly, and if we find that a video that violates the Community Guidelines, we remove it," a spokesperson from YouTube told Mashable.
"Occasionally, a video flagged by users or identified by our spam team is mistakenly taken down. When this is brought to our attention we review and take appropriate action."
YouTube had in December last year blocked Pyongyang's main channel used for news broadcasts.
Reports suggested then that the Korean Central Television could have been blocked because it earned advertising revenue on its videos, violating U.S. sanctions on funnelling income to the hermit state.
Last year, U.K. YouTuber Louis Cole faced backlash for showcasing what appeared to be enthusiastic travel videos featuring North Korea.
Several channels featuring North Korean content such as Uriminzokkiri and Toponmail still remain on YouTube -- for now.
Topics YouTube
Yvette is a Viral Content Reporter at Mashable Asia. She was previously reporting for BBC's Singapore bureau and Channel NewsAsia.
