In Brief: YouTube retracts crypto-censorship, reinstates content; Updated policy on ecommerce, new industrial rules to be tabled by March

Alphabet-owned Google has reportedly reinstated the cryptocurrency-related content from its video services platform YouTube. 

Last week, the search engine giant had removed the videos and suspended a cryptocurrency wallet application from its Android marketplace Google Play, according to an ET (Economic Times) report on Saturday.

These actions were faced with criticism from traders, startup founders and enthusiasts from the cryptocurrency community.

“These platforms are destroying a lot of value for people. Time to look at alternatives,” Changpeng Zhao, founder and CEO of cryptocurrency exchange Binance, posted on Twitter.

There was no change in YouTube's content policy on cryptocurrencies and the platform had made a wrong call, a company spokesperson was quoted as saying in the ET report.

“With the massive volumes of videos on our site, we sometimes make the wrong call. When it’s brought to our attention that a video has been removed accidentally, we act quickly to reinstate it. We also offer uploaders the ability to appeal removals and re-review the content,” the spokesperson said.

"Looks like YouTube has apologized & reinstated most of the censored material.  Glad to see the community rallying to affect change. I think that we've all learned some valuable lessons from this ordeal. I'll personally be using YT & all big tech a lot more cautiously from now on," Mati Greenspan, founder of Tel Aviv-based research group Quantum Economics, posted on Twitter.

E-commerce, new industrial policies likely to be released by March

The government’s ecommerce and new industrial policies are likely to be released by the end of the financial year, PTI was quoted as saying in an ET report. The DPIIT (Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade) has done several rounds of stakeholder  meetings on both the policies, according to secretary Guruprasad Mohapatra.

The government had in February issued a draft national ecommerce policy that aims to regulate cross-border data flow, fight piracy and counterfeiting, and requires all online retailers to have a locally-registered business entity. The policy had come after an earlier version was scrapped in September 2018 amid opposition from some online retailers.