Cruise's leaked Scientology video removed from YouTube

Sydney, January 17 : A leaked video showing Hollywood star Tom Cruise praising Scientology has been removed from Google's video sharing website YouTube.

Netizens trying to see the video now come across the message that it is unavailable.

"This video is no longer available due to a copyright claim by Church of Scientology International," news.com.au quoted the message on the site as reading.

It is believed that the company had to bow to pressures from the followers of Scientology who had been demanding the removal of the video from YouTube.

However, a Google Australia spokesman has denied that the company had "buckled under pressure" from the Church of Scientology.

He, however, confirmed that Google had "complied with our legal obligation to remove material".

He insisted that material that were subject of complaints based on the US Digital Millenium Copyright Act were often removed from their websites.

The video shows Cruise touting himself and fellow Scientologists as "authorities on the mind". It appeared on the Internet this week, coinciding with a new biography that examines Cruise's role in the movement.

The origin of the footage, which the Church of Scientology said was a video shown at a 2004 International Association of Scientologists meeting, is still unclear.

ANI