The Free Speech “Nothing burger” coming to YouTube

For the past several years, YouTube has remained as one of the biggest opponents to online freedom of speech in the United States. Following President Trump’s victory in the 2016 presidential election, the video platform has continued to censor many conservative, dissident voices on its platform.

Both large and smaller content creators have been negatively impacted over the years. Here are just some of the larger political commentators whom YouTube has banned over the years: Steve Bannon, Alex Jones, Gavin McInnes, Stefan Molyneux, Dan Bongino, and President Trump’s account in January 2021.

Earlier this week, Congressman Jim Jordan released what appeared to be a groundbreaking announcement concerning freedom of speech in America. His post on the X/Twitter platform claimed that Google committed to reinstate ALL content creators previously banned on its platform for political speech.

This development has come on the heels of the Republican-led Congressional investigation of the Biden administration’s pressuring of Big Tech platforms to censor conservative voices. In fact, Google (YouTube’s parent company) admitted to the US House Judiciary committee in a recent letter that the Biden administration coerced the platform to engage in censorship related to the COVID-19 pandemic and the 2020 election results.

But alas, this “freedom of speech” victory appears to be short-lived. YouTube released a follow-up statement on Twitter/X that disproved Congressman Jordan’s exaggerated claim. As shown in the post below, YouTube officials are claiming that it will only run a “limited pilot program” that would bring back some previously terminated users.

“America First” patriots cannot trust Google to start promoting freedom of speech based on the company’s far-left leanings in the past. This company censored conservative political voices during Trump’s first administration and gladly obliged with the Biden administration’s demands in 2021 through 2024.

We must demand our Republican politicians to require YouTube to adhere to freedom of speech on its platform. YouTube has abused its protections as a platform under Section 230 of the US Communications Decency Act and should legally be treated as a publisher for the company’s heavy-handed moderation controls.