Vimeo censorship notice 2017-08-23

September 3, 2017

Confirmed, Vimeo are closing us down because of the content of our videos. It would appear that the video which kicked off the problem was "Let's Observe a Moment's Silence" taken from Philosophy.

On a larger point, what we are showing here is that Islam, even whilst it is displaying all the outward appearances of the most hostile political ideology the world has ever seen, is cloaking itself as a "religion". It is the reverence of religion, specifically where they answer "targets a particular religion and/or ethnic group", which causes this inability to allow criticism of the political and militaristic system which seeks to conquer and rule the world.

Vimeo's final answer on censorship

Dag,

Sorry for the delay in responding.

When it comes to these kind of moderation decisions, we want to be as thorough, transparent, and thoughtful as possible and we have been researching this matter. That said, I should have provided you with an earlier response, and I sincerely apologize for the delay.

Unfortunately, the result of our review is that this material does indeed go against our Community Guidelines (https://vimeo.com/help/guidelines). and Terms of Service (https://vimeo.com/terms).

We appreciate the care and passion you showed in arguing your point of view, and while we respect the ability to be able to criticize any person or institution in the an abstract sense, these particular videos cross a line from respectful but pointed commentary to outright propaganda that targets a particular religion and/or ethnic group. This is not something that we allow on our platform, so I am afraid we will be closing your account.

That said, I can appreciate that the delayed response may not have given you enough time to fully prepare for the transition so I have reset the countdown timer to 2 weeks from today. That should give you ample time to transition to a new hosting provider better suited to your needs. Sincerely,

Trust & Safety

August 24, 2017

We wrote back to vimeo:

Our reply to Vimeo's censorship email

I don't really know whether to fight this or not. We have paid you to host our videos (not using a free account) for a number of years. We are just getting started at turning songs which were created some time ago into videos. At first I thought to just move to another platform but it is a pity after having used you for a number of years.

Taking your charges one by one: "Make derogatory or inflammatory statements about individuals or groups of people"

There's no easy way to put this: our songs are about Islam and especially the aspects of Islam which force themselves onto the lives of non-Muslims. All throughout our work we are extremely sensitive to the distinction between criticising all Muslims and the ideology of Islam.

Muslims are a very large group of people the vast majority of which want to just get by in life. The ideology of Islam, into which so many are born and into which some convert (in Islamic parlance "revert"), is a choice. Some (very brave) people even chose to renounce and leave Islam. They're brave because this carries the death penalty in many parts of the world where Islam reigns.

Our songs are meticulously researched and backed with scholarly work. You can see examples of this on our website (into which Vimeo is nicely embedded). Our song "Philosophy" - an extract of which we just published and may be the cause of your legal challenge is a good example.

The second charge "Are intended to harm someone’s reputation" I can't see where that might apply, we're not really talking about individuals.

The third charge "Have an overall mean-spirited vibe" is a lot harder to discuss. Are we allowed to present upsetting truths or is Vimeo just a happy place for amusing cat videos and other "safe" content?

I need to know whether Vimeo is pro free-speech about Islam or seeks to cover up and hide from the truth about why many Muslims decide at some point to take up arms (or cars or vans) and murder non-Muslims across the west. Or even murder other Muslims around them who aren't the right kind of Muslims.

If you don't want our careful, balanced and ultimately TRUE content on your site, we will take our business elsewhere and consider Vimeo to be another site without the strength of courage to defend the civilisation which raised us all up and gave so much to improve the human condition of everyone in our world.

We're just starting to attract attention (as evidenced by the fact that after a number of years you've noticed us). This will grow and grow. There are other alternatives out there and it would be good for us to find out now so we can move to other sites and make sure your antipathy to free truthful speech is noted by others who might mistake you for a viable service to use.

August 23, 2017

WMDRock - Weapon of Musical Defense received the following notice from Vimeo, the video service we've been using for a while now to host our videos:

It would appear our videos have been noticed. What is a good free-speech alternative to @Vimeo ? /1 pic.twitter.com/y3hKVnxSan

— WMD Rock (@WMDRock) August 23, 2017

Vimeo's censorship email

Hello

A Vimeo moderator marked your account for review for the following reason:

Vimeo does not allow videos that: * Make derogatory or inflammatory statements about individuals or groups of people * Are intended to harm someone’s reputation * Have an overall mean-spirited vibe

You need to take the following action as soon as possible:

Please remove any videos that violate Vimeo's Terms of Service (https://vimeo.com/terms)

After 2 weeks, we will review your account again to make sure this action has been taken. If not, your videos and/or your account may be removed by a Vimeo moderator.

For more information on our content and community policies, please visit https://vimeo.com/help/guidelines If you have questions or believe you received this warning in error, please respond to this message and a Vimeo Community Manager will get back to you.

Sincerely, Vimeo

We replied and we may make that reply public in the future.