YouTube has been blocked for one month in Egypt due to a court order in Cairo. YouTube could now be blocked for 30 days according to a report from Saturday morning (Feb. 9). This is a shocking move by the country, but it comes in the wake of even more protests taking place across the country.
The reason for the website potentially getting blocked is that it carried an anti-Islam film for a short time that has been blamed for many deadly riots. Calling the film "offensive to Islam and the Prophet," Judge Hassouna Tawfiq issued the ruling from the Egyptian capital. What he is referring to is a 14-minute trailer for the film "Innocence of Muslims," which shows Islam in a very negative light.
Even though the ruling has been made, it is unclear if YouTube will actually end up being blocked. The Associated Press stated that "based on precedent (it) may not be enforced." Either way, this could turn into a groundbreaking case in regard to how website content can be viewed in a court. When Google (which owns YouTube) was originally asked to take down the video, the requests were declined in most countries. They did restrict access to it in specific countries though.
The next step in this case, with the court either enforcing or not enforcing the blocking of YouTube, could also end up setting precedent for any future cases that might relate to it.
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