Anti-Islam video: YouTube bans access in Libya and Egypt
Egyptians protest at the American Embassy in Cairo on Sept. 11, 2012 against a film deemed offensive to Islam that may have been supported by Coptic Christians abroad.
YouTube has decided to block access in Libya and Egypt to an anti-Islam video said to have provoked protests at the US Embassy in Cairo, and perhaps attacks at a US consulate in Benghazi, CNN reported.
In a statement, YouTube said that while the video does not violate their content rules — and so will remain posted — access to the video inside Egypt and Libya will be cut off.
"Given the very difficult situation in Libya and Egypt we have temporarily restricted access in both countries," YouTube said, according to CNN. "Our hearts are with the families of the people murdered in yesterday's attack in Libya."
The Los Angeles Times reported that YouTube users in Egypt who tried to watch the video were instead greeted with a message that said: “This content is not available in your country due to a legal complaint. Sorry about that.”
Reuters reported that Afghanistan banned the entire YouTube website in its country so that users wouldn't be able to watch the video. An official in the communication ministry told the news agency: "We have been told to shut down YouTube to the Afghan public until the video is taken down."
An extremist US pastor said to have produced the film was behind koran burnings in 2010 that sparked fatal riots in Afghanistan.
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