YouTube has deleted a number of UK drill videos at the request of the Metropolitan police.
The streaming giant YouTube has removed more than 30 videos from its platform this week, The Guardian reports. The move follows increased scrutiny on the genre, which has been linked to violence and gang warfare.
The striking move to take down the videos comes at the behest of Metropolitan police commissioner Cressida Dick. In a statement detailing the motives behind the action, Dick stated: “Drill music is associated with lyrics which are about glamourising serious violence. They describe the stabbings in great detail, joy and excitement.”
According to the Press Association, Scotland Yard are alleged to have requested between 50 and 60 videos be removed, and have built up a database of more than 1,400 videos to use an intelligence tool to counter violent crime.
YouTube have released a statement, explaining that they’re working with police and other government groups to determine a course of action.
“We have a dedicated process for the police to flag videos directly to our teams because we often need specialist context from law enforcement to identify real-life threats,” they said. “Along with others in the UK, we share the deep concern about this issue and do not want our platform used to incite violence.”
In April, Pastor Ryan King blamed the subgenre for an increase in murders in north London. Judges in recent court trials have linked drill music to violence, and the father of Jermaine Goupall – a 15-year-old boy stabbed to death in south London – branded the genre “demonic”.
U.K. drill group 1011 has launched a petition on Change.org to stop the removal of their music. Their video for No Hook was among the videos removed.
YouTube’s decision to remove the videos comes less than a week after Spotify walked back their “public hate content and hateful conduct” policy. The controversial policy saw the removal of “hate content” – which, most notably included the music of R. Kelly – from their promoted playlists. The policy is currently being reassessed.
