Kosovo Sought Removal of Wiretaps from YouTube

A transparency report by Google, which contains data on government requests for user information and requests to remove material from the net, says the US internet giant received four requests from the government of Kosovo to remove content.

"We received a request from a local law enforcement agency to remove five YouTube videos that allegedly violated the privacy of politicians, by disclosing recorded conversations," the Google report says, adding that it did not remove the material.

The request, made from July to December 2012, refer to wiretaps posted on YouTube, which revealed the power struggle raging in the Democratic Party of Kosovo, PDK, led by Hashim Thaci.

In the recordings, which the PDK has always said were fakes, Thaci appears a deeply suspicious leader, trying to reassert control over the party's fractured ranks, while different PDK leaders use coarse language to describe each other.   

The PDK at the time denounced the recordings as fake and called on the European Union's rule of law mission, EULEX, to investigate what it called "fabricated tapping". EULEX duly condemned the release of the recordings, but did not dispute their authenticity.

"EULEX deplores the fact that the phone intercepts ended up in the public domain," it stated.

The second request from Kosovo to Google to remove material came in the period between July and December 2013, when "law enforcement requested the removal of two YouTube videos showing minors fighting."

Google says it had already removed the videos before the request arrived because they violated community guidelines.

The search giant did not offer details of the other two requests it received from Kosovo but specified that in total it was asked to remove 12 items.