The popular YouTube channel PoliTalk’s has been taken down by YouTube after a copyright complaint was filed by Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd. The complaint was registered by AiPlex, a company known for its online reputation management, content protection, and digital marketing solutions.
PoliTalk’s gained significant popularity for its content that aimed to debunk lies and hypocrisies of Dravidianists, garnering a large following of viewers.
The channel recently faced targeted harassment due to its criticism of a Tamil talk show on Zee TV, specifically the show Tamizha Tamizha, hosted by leftist and Dravidian Stockist cinema director Karu Palaniappan.
The controversial episodes of the show covered topics such as “Marriage vs. Living Together” and “Traditional Women vs. Feminists,” sparking heated debates and discussions.
In the name of women empowerment, the show’s anchor was allegedly propagating Dravidian ideologies and influencing women to take the wrong path.
PoliTalk’s openly criticised several of these episodes, which went viral and amassed over a million views each. The public outcry resulting from these videos compelled Zee TV to replace the anchor and address the content-related concerns raised by viewers in March 2023.
In May 2023, AiPlex, on behalf of Zee TV, shared a deletion request with PoliTalk’s.
However, as YouTube permits criticism and review of content shown elsewhere, the videos were not removed.
Frustrated by this, AiPlex then went on to report specific videos on PoliTalk’s’ YouTube channel. Under YouTube’s policies, if a channel receives a minimum of three copyright strikes, it is disabled or shut down unless the infringing content is removed.
In this case, six videos featuring Karu Palaniappan’s content from the talk show were marked for copyright claims, ultimately leading to the channel’s disabling.
Who Is Karu Palaniappan?
Karu Palaniappan was formerly a Tamil cinema director and is the son of politician Pala Karuppaiah who is known for hopping from one party to another (AIADMK, DMK, Kamal Haasan’s MNM, to name a few). He is Dravidian Stockist and identifies himself as a ‘Periyarist’, a follower of rabid anti-Hindu demogogue EV Ramasamy Naicker.
Palaniappan is known for peddling canards against Hindus especially Tamil Brahmins.
@India_NHRC DMK ideologue's inflammatory speech calling for the Brahmins in Tamil Nadu to be driven out to some other state before next election. He also says Brahmins should be driven out of India. His speech is clearly aimed at inciting people to persecute Brahmin community pic.twitter.com/59qWN9RTl0
— गोपाल उवाच (@Gopaluvacha) August 20, 2021
In the above speech, Karu Palaniappan says “First let us drive them (Brahmins) out of our state to other states and then we will drive them out of the country.”
watch Karu Palaniappan divert Gurumurthy matter – at best a tactless statement – into anti-brahmin hatred @ZeeTamil gives him a platform
— Reality Check India (@realitycheckind) January 17, 2021
Karu Palaniappan has been in the news every now and then for his remarks on Savarkar. When quitting the show, Karu Palaniappan shared a Facebook post where he mentioned that “…if the words social justice, self-respect, Dravidam are bitter, it is better to end the journey!”
After he quit (a few sources say he was made to) Zee Tamil, he joined DMK-owned Kalaignar TV to host the show “Va Tamizha Va”.
Politically Motivated?
It is unclear whether this is a politically motivated move or if Zee TV is solely operating on legal grounds.
Over the past year, PoliTalk’s has tackled various issues and amassed a significant following, making its sudden takedown a matter of public concern.
The case sparks a broader conversation on the balance between copyright protection and freedom of speech in the digital realm.
The PoliTalks community, along with their dedicated followers, eagerly awaits further developments in this matter, hoping for a fair resolution that upholds the principles of transparency and open dialogue.
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