Google’s Brazil Chief arrested for not removing Anti-Islamic video from YouTube

The YouTube clip that started riots in the Muslim world  been banned in Brazil and the CEO of Google’s Brazil Operations Fabio Coelho was arrested yesterday in São Paulo for ignoring Brazilian local judge court orders and for not removing the Anti-Islamic clip “The Innocence of Muslims” and other violent videos from YouTube.

The story is that a local Brazilian judge Mato Grosso do Sul had issued a ten days notice to the Google’s Brazilian CEO to remove the Anti-Islamic video and several other violent clips of abortion and rapes from YouTube but the orders were ignored by the Google administration.

The judge then not only issued arrest warrant but also ordered to ban YouTube for whole one day in the state of São Paulo, citing the CEO as responsible for Google’s failure to take down certain videos critical of a mayoral candidate. However, the exact date of one day YouTube blockage has yet not been confirmed.

After the 10-days, Google will face damages and fine of $5,000 a day for every day the clips remain accessible inBrazil, according to the statement on the court’s website.

According to Google’s statement via email, ” it will appeal against the decision. “Being a platform, Google is not responsible for the content posted on its site”.

Eva Galperin of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, which promotes digital freedom, said the rash of Brazilian cases was “disappointing, but not surprising” ahead of the country’s nationwide municipal elections on Oct. 7 and Oct. 28.

“The Internet is global, but laws are made nation by nation,” she said. “There is a struggle between nation states and their laws and the freedom of expression policies of companies that host content all over the globe.” As reported by the Washington Post. 

A judge in the southern state ofParana,Brazil also ordered Google to pay $500,000 for each day until the videos are removed from YouTube.

Google is also facing other cases and similar issues over other Brazilian election campaign videos posted on YouTube.

However, the latest development shows that Fabio Coelho will not be sent to the jail, but he has to sign a police paper to make sure he respects the court and its orders.