YouTube temporarily suspended Pakistan government's channel

YouTube temporarily suspended Pakistan government's channel
03 Feb 2018

The official YouTube channel of the Pakistan government was temporarily suspended on the grounds of copyright infringement.

A local vlogger by the name of Irfan Junejo complained to Google-owned YouTube when the Pakistan government used some of his footage without his authorization.

Subsequently, YouTube suspended the channel till the dispute was resolved between the two parties.

Here's how it unfolded.

Pakistan government used Junejo's clips in a video
Dispute

Famous for his travelogues, Irfan Junejo is currently a new sensation in the Pakistan YouTube scene - his channel currently boasts 88,000 subscribers and an average of 50,000 views per video.

The dispute broke out when the Pakistan government, without authorization, used one of Junejo's clips from the town of Naran in one of its videos aimed at promoting "family friendly activities in Pakistan".

Pakistan government says it gave video credits
Pak govt.'s defence

The video had 400 views before the channel was taken down on the grounds of "multiple third-party notifications of copyright infringement".

Zaigham Abbas, the coordinator of the Pakistan government's media cell said that credits had been given in the video description.

However, Junejo said that prior permission was necessary for the use of intellectual property, and that the Pakistan government hadn't taken his permission.

Pakistan government says it might collaborate with Junejo in future
Settlement

However, despite the disagreement, things seem to have settled down between the two parties.

Junejo recently tweeted that he got a call from the Pakistan government, and officials were "very kind and courteous".

The Pakistan government assured Junejo that the matter would be looked into, and that it might even collaborate with the vlogger in the future.

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