13 March 2022
In a new round of attacks on freedom of expression, two social media giants have censored a 2016 documentary that turns the spotlight on the West’s role in Ukraine’s color revolution in 2014.
The documentary, Ukraine On Fire, chronicles the uprising that overthrew Ukraine’s former president, Viktor Yanukovych, and installed a pro-EU, pro-NATO government there, featuring filmmaker Oliver Stone, who is well-known for his criticism of Western countries’ foreign policy.
Initially, Google-owned YouTube deleted the documentary, saying it violated the video hosting platform’s violent or graphic content policy.
“Reuploads of this video containing the violative content will also be removed from YouTube,” a YouTube spokeswoman declared.
Reacting to the act of censorship, Igor Lopatonok, the producer and director of Ukraine on Fire, said YouTube deleted his film because it narrated a different story of the events in Ukraine.
#YouTube #BigTech deleted #UkraineOnFire film from our production official channel, I'm asking everyone who like our film to download it from our Vimeo here and post it everywhere. As a copyright holder we giving to you – The People that rightshttps://t.co/k5fDPb5VPO pic.twitter.com/cMv2lrRV9A
— Igor Lopatonok (@lopatonok) March 9, 2022
Lopatonok asked his followers via Twitter to download and share the documentary via Vimeo, another American video hosting platform.
However, Vimeo also deleted the documentary in yet another attack on free speech.
“Our documentary #UkraineOnFire was #censored by another platform, now it is #Vimeo Direct links for viewing not available anymore. I want to ask @anjsud – Did you [side] with #Censorship with #BigTech?” Lopatonok wrote in a tweet.
Our documentary #UkraineOnFire was #censored by another platform, now it is #Vimeo Direct links for viewing not available any more. I want to ask @anjsud – Did you siding with #Censorship with #BigTech?
Thanks to #Rumble one more time for helping us!https://t.co/fhn3CQRit1 pic.twitter.com/DaUOV0iiOo— Igor Lopatonok (@lopatonok) March 12, 2022
This is the next subject of the Communiqué, a Press TV program hosted by Richard Medhurst. The episode will be broadcast on March 14 at 6:30 GMT.
During the interview, Lopatonok has touched upon the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, saying he believes that Ukraine suffers from a civil war.
He also said the country is under the direct rule of those who share the same ideology that Adolf Hitler disseminated in Europe.
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