Police officer plays Taylor Swift song to prevent protest video going on YouTube
Censorship attempt backfired and incident is now under investigation by department
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.A California police officer played a Taylor Swift song on his phone to try and prevent protesters from posting video of their encounter on YouTube.
The officer, identified on the video as Sergeant Shelby, hit play on the singer’s hit Blank Space song as he confronted protesters over a banner outside a courthouse in an attempt to create copyright issues for them.
“You can record all you want, I just know it can’t be posted on YouTube,” the officer told activists from the Anti Police-Terror Project outside the courthouse in Alameda County, California.
But the officer’s attempt seems to have backfired as the video has now been seen more than 772,000 times on twitter and more than 180,500 times on YouTube.
The video-sharing giant does not allow users to upload content that includes music tracks that they do not own the rights to “without necessary authorisations.”
The company’s Content ID system can in some cases automatically block an uploaded video when it matches another video, which is seemingly what the officer had in mind.
The incident, which took place outside a pre-trial hearing for a police office accused of shooting a Black man at a Walmart store last year, was branded a “MASSIVE waste of public resources” by the APTP on Twitter.
The officer’s bosses at the Alameda County sheriff’s office were also unimpressed with the action.
“The officer was trying to be a little smart, and it kind of backfired. Instead of censoring it, it made it go viral,” said sheriff’s office spokesperson Sergeant Ray Kelly.
“We are human beings, and we do get caught up in the moment. But the public expects us not to get caught up in those moments. So, this is a situation where I’m sure it won’t happen again.”
While the officer remains at work the incident has been referred to the internal affairs department to be investigated.
Sgt Kelly added that members of the public were legally allowed to film officers as they worked for the sheriff’s office.
The Independent has reached out to YouTube for comment.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments