Australian Prime Minister's YouTube account suspended after video flagged as 'deceptive'

The website automatically removes videos that are flagged repeatedly

Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott had his entire YouTube account suspended after users flagged a video as inappropriate. (AFP PHOTO / Saeed KHAN)

Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott’s YouTube account was mistakenly suspended after users flagged a video as containing deceptive content.

It appears YouTubers used the website’s complaints feature to stage an online protest against a video posted on Sunday called ‘Delivering on our Promises’, causing Mr Abbott’s whole account to be suspended.

The video was replaced with the message: “the video has been removed as a violation of YouTube’s policy against spam, scams and commercially deceptive content”.

YouTube's guidelines state videos are reviewed when “a video gets flagged as inappropriate”.

The footage and Mr Abbott’s account were both reinstated on Monday morning.

In over two minutes, Mr Abbott describes how his Government’s policies are working to restore confidence to voters, but mainly focused on the controversial issue of border protection.

Google released a statement calling the suspension a mistake.

“Occasionally, a video flagged by users is mistakenly taken down,” it said, adding: “When this is brought to our attention, we quickly review the content and take appropriate action, including restoring videos or channels that had been removed.”

A spokeswoman for the Prime Minister’s office said as the account had been reinstated there was no comment to make.

See below, attractions in Western Australia