News - Yemen: The Yemeni Media Union strongly condemned the repressive measures implemented by YouTube against Yemeni content and national Yemeni channels by deleting and closing them.

The Media Union confirmed that this measure is a systematic targeting of the Yemeni voice, and media and intellectual terrorism, aimed at silencing the Yemeni voice. It considered this action a dangerous escalation aimed at silencing the truth.

The Union said that removing the content documenting the crimes of the US-Saudi aggression against Yemen is considered an open collusion with the coalition of aggression.

It called on the YouTube administration to immediately retract the recent measures it took against Yemeni media institutions and media personalities.

The Union called for adopting a unified position against these cancellation policies adopted by YouTube. It called on the media and press authorities and institutions to take urgent action to stop targeting the Yemeni media by YouTube.

It also called on the competent authorities in the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology to take the necessary measures regarding YouTube.

YouTube, an American online video-sharing and social media platform, blocked access to Al-Furqan Network and the Fikra Foundation on Tuesday, days after closing 18 national media channels without any logical justification.

YouTube justified this arbitrary step by saying that it was due to its "private policies".

YouTube also closed the third channel of Al-Masirah office in Dhamar Governorate, hours after closing the channels of the Fikra Foundation and Al-Furqan Network.

This is not the first time that YouTube and other social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter have deleted Yemeni accounts or pages without any prior notice or justification.

In July 17, YouTube arbitrarily blocked access to more than a dozen Yemeni channels without giving any prior notice.

The attack targeted 18 channels of the media bureau of Yemen’s Operations Command Center as well as Ansarullah's art and documentary production unit.

The latest move constitutes a violation of freedom of speech and expression since many of the deleted channels actually used to post content related to arts and music, and had nothing to do with the promotion of hatred or incitement to violence.

In June 2021, the US Justice Department seized the website domain of the Yemeni Arabic-language al-Masirah television channel along with nearly three dozen other regional websites.

The move comes amid an 8-year Saudi-led war and economic blockade against Yemen, which has turned the country into what the UN calls the "worst humanitarian crisis" on earth.