An employee stands beside a logo of the ABS-CBN network logo in the newsroom on the final day of work for most of its staff, at the broadcasting network's headquarters in Manila on August 31, 2020. (AFP / Ted Aljibe)

Misleading video and claims circulate following the reported hacking of Philippine broadcaster ABS-CBN’s YouTube account

This article is more than one year old.
Published on November 10, 2020 at 06:05
2 min read
By AFP Philippines

A video has been viewed more than a hundred thousand times on YouTube and shared in multiple online posts that claim it shows a statement released by YouTube regarding disabled channels of Philippine broadcaster ABS-CBN. The video, however, omits important context; the video only quotes YouTube's general community guidelines and is not a statement specifically related to ABS-CBN; YouTube subsequently said ABS-CBN’s channels had been hacked.

The five-minute, 14-second video was posted on YouTube here on November 2, 2020. It has been viewed more than 132,000 times since.

A screenshot of the misleading post, taken on November 6, 2020

The video’s title reads: "CONFIRMED: YouTube MANAGEMENT SPEAKS UP on TERMINATION of Youtube Channel of ABS-CBN NEWS!"

The video opens with a voiceover announcing: “This news just in that the American video-sharing platform YouTube itself terminated the official YouTube channel of ABS-CBN news. This shocked the ABS-CBN management after they received an official letter from YouTube because of some not-so-good content or sensitive content that it has uploaded on its official YouTube channel.”

The video circulated as social media users reported not being able to access the broadcaster’s YouTube channels, according to local media.

“A look at the YouTube account of ABS-CBN News shows that the ‘account has been terminated for a violation of YouTube’s Terms of Service.’ It is, however, unclear what these supposed violations are,” the Philippine Daily Inquirer reported here on November 3, 2020.

The same video was also published alongside a similar claim on YouTube here; on Facebook here, here and here; and in this blog post.

The video and the posts, however, omit important context.

At the three-minute, 27-second mark, the video flashes what the voiceover claims is “YouTube's exclusive response on why it terminated ABS-CBN News' official channel".

The video in fact shows a portion of YouTube’s general guidelines on terminations, found here, and not a statement specifically on ABS-CBN.

A screenshot of the portion of the misleading video that shows YouTube’s general guidelines

YouTube also confirmed to AFP that ABS-CBN’s channels were not disabled because of community standard violations.

The channels, YouTube said, were hacked on November 2, 2020. The channels were restored the afternoon of November 3, ABS-CBN announced.

“We take account security very seriously and notify account owners when we detect suspicious activity. If an owner has reason to believe their account was compromised, they can notify our team to secure the account and regain control,” a YouTube spokesperson added in a statement on November 5, 2020.

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