YouTube, the Google-owned video site, has drawn a line in the sand regarding its policy that “graphic or gratuitous violence” will not be tolerated. In shutting down the account of Egyptian Wael Abbas who, as he told Reuters, had posted nearly 100 images (12 to 13 of which depicted torture by Egyptian policemen), YouTube has shown that no subjective thinking applies when it comes to enforcing its rules. It is an important precedent for the young company as it attempts to define the laws of its otherwise “free” society.

Abbas, the winner of an international journalism award for his work this year, told Reuters, "They closed it (the account) and they sent me an e-mail saying that it will be suspended because there were lots of complaints about the content, especially the content of torture." Reuters says YouTube did not respond to a request for comment.

But if Abbas is correct in saying that YouTube’s action against his account was a direct response to the complaints of others, the site is taking a less subjective role. After all, in the times we live, graphic and “gratuitous” violence – a term that differs from one person to the next, and one global region to the next – is hard to define. And if YouTube decides which accounts to shutter based on the opinion of an undefined sample size (say, perhaps, the Egyptian government, who has an incentive to shut down access to the site if Abbas was not removed), the company walks a thin ethical line.

Reuters did report, however, that Abbas was “a key player” in the arrest and conviction of two policemen caught on tape sodomizing an Egyptian bus driver. The country has a strong opposition to torture, and according to blogger and Egyptian activist Elijah Zarwan, he believes YouTube’s actions had little to do with pressure from the government. "I suspect they are doing it not under pressure from the Egyptian government but rather because it made American viewers squeamish," he said. "But to shut them down because some people might find the truth disturbing is unconscionable."

Yet, as Reuters reports, for the first time this year, an Egyptian court “convicted and jailed a blogger over his internet writings.”

It is not the first time YouTube has found itself in the middle of an international political battle, as we reported last April that Thailand banned the site after Google refused to remove a video mocking the country’s monarch.

In central importance today is the method with which the site determines whether a clip violates its graphic and gratuitous violence rule. But the shutdown of an entire account, rather than selected clips, raises many questions about the influencing parties over the company’s decisions.