Wings Over Scotland given flight as Youtube channel back on again

The BBC is to review its process of taking down copyrighted material from Youtube following a row with a prominent pro-independence blogger.

Stuart Campbell, editor of Wings Over Scotland, claimed he had been victim of censorship after his channel on the video-sharing website was abruptly suspended last weekend. Mr Campbell had shared dozens of videos, many of which contained clips from BBC current affairs programmes, in recent years.

The channel was restored to Youtube yesterday morning, but without 13 videos at the centre of the dispute. The BBC had claimed the 13 videos shared on the channel breached its copyright.

The broadcaster now has two weeks to appeal against the decision through the courts. If no appeal is lodged, the 13 videos will also be allowed to return to Wings Over Scotland.

A BBC spokesman said the broadcaster regularly took action to protect its copyright “whenever we receive complaints about large volumes of our material being posted or used without authorisation”.

Mr Campbell told The Scotsman: “I hope that the BBC representative’s comments on the John Beattie show today signal that this outbreak of insanity is now over and we can get back to scrutinising Scottish politics and holding politicians to account.”