Human-rights group slams White House for asking Google to review anti-Islam video

A human-rights group criticized the White House on Tuesday for asking Google to consider taking down a controversial anti-Muslim video.

Meg Roggensack, a senior adviser for Human Rights First, argued the request undercut the government's responsibility to protect free speech.

"In taking the unusual step of calling on Google to review whether continuing to make this offensive film available is in compliance with the company’s terms of use agreement raises concerns that the administration is willing to restrict freedom of speech to avoid giving offense to a particular group of people," she said in a statement. "The U.S. government has been, quite understandably, concerned with the security of its personnel abroad; its strategy in addressing this film and the backlash need[s] to focus on safety and security measures, not on restricting free speech.”

The 14-minute YouTube video mocks the Prophet Muhammad and is believed to have sparked a series of violent protests that left four American officials dead, including the ambassador to Libya.

White House National Security Council spokesman Tommy Vietor confirmed on Friday that the administration had reached out to Google, which owns YouTube, to review whether the video is in line with the company's terms of use.

But Google rebuffed that request, concluding that the video did not violate the rules banning violent and pornographic content.

The company temporarily blocked the video in Libya and Egypt, but it is still available in other countries.

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