YouTube has been highlighting Egyptian protest footage for days, but Google has now outlined the ways it is making sure the world knows what's going on in the unstable country. In addition to developing a "speak-to-tweet" service that lets anyone send messages over Twitter without an Internet connection, the search giant is helping those in Egypt fight the good fight in three ways:
- Highlighting the latest footage on CitizenTube, the company's news and politics channel, and inviting people to submit video they've come across.
- Pointing our users directly to these videos through banners at the top of YouTube pages, and through links alongside YouTube videos.
- Streaming live coverage of Al Jazeera's broadcasts about the unfolding events, on both their Arabic and English YouTube channels.
More than 140 people have died since demonstrations began last Tuesday, most in clashes between protesters and police. On Monday, the Egyptian army announced it would not take action against demonstrators. Today, President Hosni Mubarak announced he would not run in the next election, though he said that was his plan all along. He still expects to remain in power until then.
The Egyptian government is trying to kill all media coverage of the huge protests challenging Mubarak's three decade long rule. The Internet blackout in Egypt began last week: first Twitter was blocked, then Facebook stopped working, and finally the Internet was cut off. Despite all this, the news is still getting out.