ACLU Calls On Broadcasters To Stop Stifling Political Discourse On YouTube

"More and more of today's important political discussion is taking place online on sites like YouTube, and it's critical that free speech is protected there," said Aden Fine, senior staff attorney with the ACLU First Amendment Working Group. "Unfortunately, this valuable online political speech is repeatedly being threatened and shut down by overreaching copyright claims."

CBS, the Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN), Fox and NBC have all recently sent "takedown" notices to YouTube targeting election-related videos containing short clips of news footage for removal. Letters from the networks have prompted YouTube to take down videos posted by the McCain-Palin and Obama-Biden campaigns, as well as by individuals. Today's open letter from the coalition calls on the four networks to stop using unsubstantiated copyright infringement claims to stifle the free speech of the presidential campaigns and individuals expressing their views on the Internet.