On October 24, Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-NY) held a press conference at New York's Times Square, along with MEMRI staffers, in which he called on YouTube to remove jihadist content hosted on its site. Rep. Weiner said, "YouTube has told me they will take a look at this issue, with MEMRI's research."
The press conference was reported on national media, including CNN (http://edition.cnn.com/2010/POLITICS/10/24/youtube.al.awlaki/). To view excerpts from the press conference, visit http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F4i1woXEGY8 .
The event follows the publication of numerous MEMRI reports about the growing use of YouTube as a repository for jihadist videos (see list following report).
On October 25, 2010, Al-Arabiya TV reported on Rep. Weiner's demand.
To view this clip on MEMRI TV, visit http://www.memritv.org/clip/en/0/0/0/0/0/0/2653.htm.
Reporter: "At a time when talk is mounting about an electronic war waged by various parties, over the Internet or satellite TV, it has been noted that superpowers, such as the U.S. and Britain, display great interest in that war.
"After Wikileaks published some 400,000 secret documents about the war in Iraq, a new issue has emerged: a demand that YouTube remove all the videos of the American cleric of Yemini origin Anwar Al-Awlaki, who has been dubbed 'the Ban Laden of the Internet.'
"This demand was made by a Democratic Congressman from New York, 48 hours after the emergence of a new video by Al-Awlaki, who is wanted by Washington dead or alive. The congressman noted that hundreds of Al-Awlaki videos appear on YouTube, and the number of viewings of these videos has exceeded 3.5 million.
"The U.S. is not hiding its concern about the electronic warfare, and it has allocated billions of dollars for this warfare. Senior American officials say that Al-Awlaki has exchanged emails with Major Nidal Hassan, who killed 13 people, when he opened fire at the Fort Hood military base. Al-Awlaki also helped to recruit Nigerian national Omar Farouk Abdulmutallab, who has been accused of trying to blow up a Northwest airliner, as it was landing in Detroit on Christmas Day.
"The officials confirmed that Al-Awlaki was on the list of people to be killed or arrested by the U.S. military or the CIA." [...]
MEMRI Reports about Jihadist Content on YouTube
For MEMRI reports about the issue of jihadist videos on YouTube, see:
Inquiry & Analysis Series No. 576, "Deleting Online Jihad and the Case of Anwar Al-Awlaki: Nearly Three Million Viewings of Al-Awlaki's YouTube Videos – Included Would-Be Christmas Airplane Bomber, Fort Hood Shooter, 7/7 London Bomber, and Would-Be Fort Dix Bombers," December 30, 2009.
http://www.memri.org/report/en/0/0/0/0/0/0/3871.htm
Inquiry & Analysis No. 606, "YouTube – The Internet's Primary and Rapidly Expanding Jihadi Base: Part II," May 4, 2010.
http://www.memri.org/report/en/0/0/0/0/0/0/4133.htm
Inquiry & Analysis No. 621, "YouTube – The Internet's Primary and Rapidly Expanding Jihadi Base – Part III: Despite Removal Efforts, Taliban YouTube Page Promising Terror Attacks on U.S. Cities Remains Active," July 2, 2010.
http://www.memri.org/report/en/0/0/0/0/0/0/4428.htm,
Inquiry & Analysis Series No. 632, "YouTube - The Internet's Primary and Rapidly Expanding Jihadi Base - Part IV: Young American YouTube Follower of Anwar Al-Awlaki on the Ground Zero Mosque and 9/11: 'America Reaps What It Sows'", August 27, 2010.
http://www.memri.org/report/en/0/0/0/0/0/0/4564.htm
