Corporation defends free speech.

YouTube tells White House it will not remove video blamed for sparking riots.

As anti-American rioting continues tonight in as many as 20 countries around the world, the White House has finally decided to make a definitive display of power — against YouTube. And YouTube isn’t backing down.

As Twitchy reported earlier, the White House contacted YouTube and requested they review the video which the Obama administration insists is responsible for sparking the attacks against several American diplomatic outposts. Press secretary Jay Carney told reporters today that the riots were “in response not to United States policy, and not to, obviously, the administration,” even as mobs in Gaza burned the American flag and an effigy of President Obama.

Choosing to get tough against a video rather than the mob is certainly the easier course, but not even Google, owner of YouTube, seemed intimated by this administration. A YouTube spokesperson said in a statement:

We work hard to create a community everyone can enjoy and which also enables people to express different opinions. This can be a challenge because what’s OK in one country can be offensive elsewhere. This video — which is widely available on the Web — is clearly within our guidelines and so will stay on YouTube.

It seems that YouTube has more of a commitment to its corporate charter than the Obama administration has to the Constitution.