New Zealand

Planet Key video keeps reappearing

15:01 pm on 23 August 2014

The Electoral Comission appears to have no power to stop people posting copies of the political parody video Planet Key.

A screenshot of Darren Watson's Planet Key video Photo: DARREN WATSON

The commission this month ruled that Darren Watson's song is an election advertisement so could not be played on radio or television, or sold or played without a statement attached declaring the writer is a promoter.

It gave him until Thursday to add the statement to the iTunes store and websites.

Mr Watson instead removed the video from the YouTube, Vimeo and iTunes websites, saying he could not afford to risk prosecution, even though he thought the ruling was censorship.

He had asked the Electoral Commission to reconsider but the agency was standing by its ruling. His lawyer Wendy Aldred said her client was planning to challenge the commission through the courts.

Meanwhile, people keep putting Planet Key back on YouTube and sharing it through social media.

In a statement, the Electoral Commission said if the content appeared elsewhere online, it would not require a promoter statement if it was posted as the expression of a personal political view and no payment was involved.