Indonesia Threatens To Block YouTube Over Anti-Islamic FilmIndonesia Threatens To Block YouTube Over Anti-Islamic Film

Indonesia has warned YouTube to remove a film that portrays Islam as inherently violent and has had ripple effects across the globe.

The LiveLeak Web site released the film, Fitna, by Dutch politician Geert Wilders less than a week ago.

It has already raised fears of terrorist attacks among security experts in Europe, caused debate in the Netherlands parliament, triggered protests in Afghanistan, drawn fire from the Turkish Religious Affairs Directorate, spurred attacks on the Dutch consulate in Indonesia, attracted ads in protest in Malaysia, drawn condemnation from leaders in Uzbekistan, prompted boycotts of goods from the Netherlands, and inspired the burning of effigies in Pakistan.

LiveLeak removed the film after threats to its staff. Network Solutions also disabled fitnathemovie.com after determining that it violated its acceptable-use policy. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon decried Fitna as hate speech.

Now, CNSNews reports that Indonesia's information minister, Mohammad Nuh, said his country will block YouTube if it doesn't remove Fitna.

A search for Fitna on Wednesday revealed nearly 3,000 entries. The first, dubbed an official English version, had been viewed nearly 1 million times in five days. Many of the clips come with a warning that the content has been flagged by YouTube users because it may be inappropriate for some people. YouTube requires users to log in or sign up and verify that they are 18 or older to view such clips.

Network Solutions didn't explain the standard it used in making the decision to shut down the Web site. Its acceptable-use policy prohibits obscene, defamatory, libelous, illegal, unlawful, harassing, abusive, threatening, harmful, vulgar, hateful, fraudulent, profane, indecent, or objectionable material.

LiveLeak released a statement explaining its decision Friday, one day after the Fitna debut.

"This is a sad day for freedom of speech on the Net, but we have to place the safety and well being of our staff above all else," the company said. "We would like to thank the thousands of people, from all backgrounds and religions, who gave us their support. They realized LiveLeak.com is a vehicle for many opinions and not just for the support of one."

The Web site's operators said they hoped the situation would spark discussion that could benefit and educate people about how to accept each other's cultures.

The statement explained: "We stood for what we believe in, the ability to be heard, but in the end the price was too high."