The Chinese government has blocked all access to YouTube in the country. While officials have not even admitted the blocking, it’s believed it’s a response to a video posted on the site which apparently shows pro-Tibet campaigners being beaten.

YouTube’s owner Google has not officially been told of the blockage, but it became clear after traffic from the country began slowing on Monday and stopped completely yesterday. Chinese users report that attempting to access any clip produces a network timeout error message.

A Google spokesman says, “We do not know the reason for the blockage, and we’re working as quickly as possible to restore access to our users in China.”

The BBC’s Beijing office reports that the blocking is down to a clip put up by Tibetan exiles. The video, which is available for viewing on the BBC Web site, appears to show Chinese security officials attacking protestors who have already been handcuffed and tied up. One of the men in the clip reportedly died as a result. A Chinese official told a state news agency the clip was a fabrication made by piecing together multiple pieces of video footage and audio clips.

The row has prompted one free speech group to argue that blocking the entire site in such a  secretive fashion may violate international law. Leslie Harris, president of the Center for Democracy and Technology told the BBC, “Anytime a country limits or takes down content online , it must be forthright and specific about its actions and do so only in narrowly defined circumstances consistent with international human rights and the rule of law.”

This isn’t the first time China and Google have come to blows. Earlier this year the Chinese government threatened to severely punish the firm for failing to alter its results pages for Chinese users to block links to international websites with adult content.

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Entry was posted on Wednesday, March 25th, 2009 at 12:43 pm under Legal, Online video, Politics, YouTube.

Read more entries by John Lister.
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