The Steeple Times

Category: Censorship

  • Yo-Yo-ing YouTube & Mucky Madam Maxwell

    Yo-Yo-ing YouTube & Mucky Madam Maxwell

    After reinstating ‘Shaun Attwood’s True Crime Channel’ yesterday, in yo-yo-like fashion it has now been taken down again; are mucky madam Ghislaine Maxwell’s PR peddlers targeting his work?

    Yesterday, YouTube did the right thing and reinstated crusading crime commentator Shaun Attwood to their channel.

     

    Today, they reversed their decision after a concerted campaign by his critics and once again, this morning, the Shaun Attwood True Crime Channel has been “terminated for violating YouTube’s Community Guidelines.”

     

    In a missive to Attwood, seen by The Steeple Times today, YouTube ridiculously justified their actions by stating:

     

    “We have reviewed your content and found severe or repeated violations of our Community Guidelines. Because of this, we have removed your channel from YouTube.”

     

    “We know that this is probably very upsetting news, but it’s our job to make sure that YouTube is a safe place for all. If we think that a channel severely violates our policies, we take it down to protect other users on the platform – but if you believe that we’ve made the wrong call, you can appeal this decision. You’ll find more information about the policy in question and how to submit an appeal below.”

     

    Commenting this morning on Twitter, Ash Meikle, guest booker and lead researcher for Shaun Attwood’s True Crime Channel remarked of Twitter’s approach:

     

    “Your inconsistencies, lack of clarity and general poor guidance for content creators needs revisiting. How can you reinstate a channel one day and remove it the next without explanation after apologising and saying it was a mistake? Complete overhaul of policies needed.”

     

    Shaun Attwood is a good ‘citizen’ of YouTube and a respected educator about the perils and pitfalls of criminality. Proof of that is provided in the fact that ‘TedX Talks’ – which has 32 million subscribers – invited him to give a TEDx talk in January 2017. A video of that has been viewed 1.8 million times on YouTube and liked 39,000 times also. On that basis alone, YouTube should realise the error of their decision and reinstate this campaigner’s channel once again.

    Responding directly to YouTube with yet another appeal, Attwood himself added:

     

    “Yesterday, my terminated channel was ruled in compliance and reinstated due to a successful appeal. Today it has gone again for the same reasons. Here’s the appeal:”

     

    “The violations revolve around news/educational coverage of high-profile sex-abuse cases documented in the media, e.g. Epstein. Your guidelines provide an exception for debating ‘high profile officials or leaders: Content featuring debates or discussions of topical issues concerning individuals who have positions of power…’”

     

    “After the 1st strike, I requested guidance from YouTube. None came. I visited Google HQ in London, only to be told to contact support. As a precautionary measure, I deleted 40% of my channel, almost 60 million views. I completely stopped covering the Epstein case, with no intention to resume. I educated my team on cyberbullying and interviewed a cyberbullying activist.”

     

    “It goes against the spirit of YouTube to bombard a good citizen of 13 years with multiple strikes on old deleted videos.”

     

    Clearly, as the mucky madam Ghislaine Maxwell’s trial for the enticement of minors and sex trafficking of underage girls for her on-off paedophile lover Jeffrey Epstein approaches, her PR team are upping their efforts to silence those speaking out against her. Today, we ask: “Are Miss Maxwell’s well-connected supporters – whom number the pompous PR peddler Brian Basham and the potty political prattler Jay Beecher – attempting to put a stop to those covering her case?”

     

    Today also, we urge readers to support Shaun Attwood in his efforts to permanently get his YouTube channel back by tweeting @TeamYouTube. Please ask them to explain why they have once again terminated Shaun Attwood’s True Crime Channel and please ask them to reinstate it.

     

    Shaun Attwood
    Shaun Attwood is someone who has turned his life around and after serving his sentence in America has spent time educating others about why crime ultimately doesn’t pay. His YouTube channel is informative and its removal yet again illustrates that this social media giant isn’t policing its users in a fair or correct way. Attwood does not merit de-platforming; he should instead be promoted.
  • Attwood’s Unsilenced

    Attwood’s Unsilenced

    In spite of efforts to stop his crusades against crime, Shaun Attwood has been quite rightly reinstated on YouTube today; he is now unsilenced and free to broadcast again

    Whilst the thorn in the sides of the poisonous pair that are Omid Scobie and ‘MeGain,’ Duchess of Sussex that is ‘Yankee Wally’ quite wrongly remains banned from Twitter, this morning YouTube did the right thing in reinstating the crusading campaigner Shaun Attwood’s ‘True Crime Channel’ after taking it offline earlier this week.

     

    Subscribed to by an astonishing 667,000 individuals and featuring everything from interviews with eccentric author and tellybox tattler Lady Colin Campbell to female armed robber Linda ‘The Black Widow’ Calvey, Attwood’s channel was temporarily censored this week on the completely false basis that it supposedly promoted cyberbullying.

     

    Yet again illustrating that social media channels – including not only YouTube but also Facebook and Twitter especially – act irrationally over account management, the thankfully temporary closure of this widely respected channel illustrates the problem of the vast size of these organisations. With millions to ‘police,’ the result is that the likes of YouTube are unable to differentiate between genuine abuse of their platform and targeted campaigns to ‘take down’ particular individuals.

     

    Cited amongst the cases that caused the “day of many strikes” closure was an interview with The Lost Boys star turned activist against child abuse Corey Feldman and also videos about Jeffrey Epstein and his wicked associates – including one featuring both the Ghislaine Maxwell: An Unauthorized Biography author Kirby Sommers and this publication’s very own co-founder, Matthew Steeples.

     

    Now, however, quite rightly, the censorship of this informative channel has been stopped; Shaun Attwood is back and we look forward to yet more excellent content from this wise and witty gentleman.

     

    Join Shaun Attwood’s 667,000 subscribers on YouTube by clicking here. Follow him on Twitter at @shaunattwood.

     

    Shaun Attwood tweet about YouTube
    The Widnes born author and activist took to Twitter on Saturday morning to announce his YouTube channel had quite rightly been reinstated after the social media giant reviewed his account. In a message to him, the firm stated: “After taking another look, we can confirm that [‘Shaun Attwood’s True Crime’ account] is not in violation of our Terms of Service. We have lifted the suspension of your account and it is once again active and operational… We’re sorry for any inconvenience or frustration this has caused.”
    Recent interviewees on the channel have included the author Steve Wraith – whose books about his encounters with criminals were discussed in a 4 hour, 36 minute one-on-one that has been viewed over 15,700 times.
    An especially fascinating interview on the channel premiered on YouTube on 20th May May this year. Viewed over 26,800 to date, the episode featured Linda ‘The Black Widow’ Calvey discussing her debut crime novel, ‘The Locksmith.’ Described as “the true crime book of the year,” Calvey’s novel is listed as: “If you think you know everything about the East End’s toughest gangsters, think again. Meet Linda Calvey, aka the Black Widow. Growing up after the war in the East End of London, Linda falls in with local gangsters including the Krays, Freddie Foreman and Ronnie Cook. When the love of her life, Mickey Calvey, is gunned down on a job gone wrong, Linda resolves to carry on his work. But in 1990, after years of living in fear of her lover Ronnie Cook, Linda finds herself accused of his murder alongside Danny Reece, in a trial that shocks the nation. Still, Linda sticks to her code of honour, refusing to confess. Until now… After 18 years behind bars alongside notorious names including Rose West and Myra Hindley, she is released. This is the final truth about her life and what happened the day Ronnie Cook was murdered.”
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BxMi2Cb8IpY&t=1613s
    Matthew Steeples, editor-in-chief of ‘The Steeple Times,’ has appeared on the channel on a number of occasions recently to discuss true crimes cases including that of Jeremy Bamber, Max Clifford, Luke Durbin, Rolf Harris, Stuart Lubbock, Madeleine McCann and Ghislaine Maxwell amongst others.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tTl_J-McDJk
    A 2-hour, 14-minute interview with Matthew Steeples on the channel has been viewed over 138,900 times since it was uploaded on 8th May this year. With 5,500 likes and over 940 comments on this one video alone, here is a YouTube channel that should be promoted and not censored.
  • The Priti Awful Controller

    The Priti Awful Controller

    Nikolay Kalinin on ‘Priti Awful’ Patel trying to silence journalism through changes to the Official Secrets Act

    Accountability is one of the pillars of our democracy and it is how we attempt to ensure that MPs work for no one other than for their constituents. If they do something wrong, the system is meant to hold them accountable through scrutiny, and if necessary, recall petitions and by-elections.

     

    It seems, however, that after months of being held accountable by the public and the British press for their abhorrent behaviour during the pandemic, the government has decided that the best course of action is to now ban journalists from writing stories that “embarrass the government.”

     

    This course of action is the brainchild of the ultimate neighbour from hell ‘Priti Awful’ Patel. She has decided to amend the 1989 Official Secrets Act by making it illegal for journalists to handle leaked documents, in an attempt to combat “foreign agents.” To me, this sounds sinisterly similar to a similar Russian law that has attempted to clamp down on the opposition.

     

    Under this law, things such as the leaked Matt Hancock video, as well as Dominic Cummings’ texts revealing how the latter and Boris mishandled the pandemic, would be seen as illegal in the hands of journalists and could result in them facing maximum 14 years in prison.

     

    So, let’s just recap: the British taxpayer is paying for a government that wants to limit the ability of journalists and the public to hold it to account. I would suggest that sounds a lot like what tyrants do.

     

    The Home Office has denied that the change will suppress journalists exposing the government’s incompetence. In response to criticism, they stated: “It is wrong to claim the proposals will put journalists at risk of being treated like spies and they will, rightly, remain free to hold the government to account” and added “this will be balanced to protect press freedom and the ability for whistleblowers to hold organisations to account”.

     

    At the same time however, the Home Office has denied providing ‘public interest defence’ to journalists at the recommendation of human rights organisations, stating that such proposals “undermine our efforts to prevent damaging unauthorised disclosures, which would not be in the public interest.”

     

    Not only does the government want to crack down on protesters bringing the people in it to account, but also it wants to crack down on journalists who have an important role in spreading the truth about the government’s actions through the media.

     

    I think this is the part where most of us get up and say: “Let’s take back control.” We are tired of the Conservatives treating the public that elected them like livestock. It’s time they realise that we have the power to push them off their throne – because this is how proper democracy works.

     

    Priti Patel - Priti Awful
    Elsewhere this morning, the ‘Guardian’ reported that the Police Federation of England and Wales had issued a “scathing announcement” that suggested the Home Secretary “could not be trusted.” Going further of ‘Priti Awful,’ they added: “As the undisputed voice of policing we say this to the home secretary: you cannot pat our members on the back for their heroic efforts with one hand, while effectively taking their pay with the other… Warm words are no longer enough.”
    ‘Priti Awful’ Patel’s proposed changes to legislation would result in journalists handling leaked documents not having a defence if charged. They would effectively result in them being “treated like foreign spies.” Human rights groups have suggested in response that there should be a “public interest defence” that would prevent the prosecution of journalists who receive leaked documents.