Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) refused to back down after YouTube censored a video of him calling the vicious Hamas terrorists who attacked Israel “savages.” YouTube later claimed to MRC Free Speech America that it made a “mistake.”
In an X (formerly Twitter) post, Florida’s Voice News exposed YouTube for censoring a video clip of Rubio calling Hamas “savages.” The news outlet shared a screenshot of a YouTube censorship notice which seemed to refer to terrorists as having “protected group status.” YouTube apparently accused the outlet of violating the Google-owned platform’s “hate speech policy.” Rubio later ripped the platform apart for the absurd censorship: “Apparently @YouTube @Google has decided that calling Hamas terrorists who burned babies & raped girls ‘savages’ is dehumanizing ‘hate speech’.” The censorship, which YouTube has since reversed, follows the monstrous Hamas terror attacks Oct. 7 that have claimed at least 1400 Israeli lives so far.
Florida’s Voice News posted on Oct. 13, “@YouTube has deleted a video off our channel of Sen. @MarcoRubio denouncing Hamas terrorists as ‘savages’ for wanting to kill Jews.” The screenshot of the YouTube message said, “‘Our team has reviewed your content, and, unfortunately, we think it violates our hate speech policy. We’ve removed the following content from YouTube: …RUBIO: Western ideals WON’T WORK on ‘savage’ terrorist groups.’”
In an email to MRC Free Speech America, YouTube admitted that, “Upon review, we determined the video in question is not violative of our Community Guidelines and have reinstated it.” YouTube then tried to duck responsibility by asserting, “this reuploaded version was removed by mistake.” The video is again available on YouTube.
The original YouTube message that Florida’s Voice shared continued, “Content that incites hatred against individuals or groups based on their protected group status isn’t allowed on YouTube. This may include dehumanization, using slurs and stereotypes, inferiority claims, and/or conspiracy theories.”
Why would YouTube seemingly refer to violent terrorist groups as having “protected group status”? And why would the platform label Rubio’s accurate description of terrorists who raped women and children and horrifically tortured and murdered Israeli citizens as “dehumanization? Just how exactly should Rubio have described the Hamas terrorists, according to YouTube?
In the formerly deleted video, Rubio told Fox Business host Larry Kudlow that it's senseless to project Western ideals onto villainous entities like Hamas who are obsessed with the eradication of Israel. “They’re ideological psychopaths, and they’re savages, and they would, if they could, not just kill every Jew they could get their hands on, they would kill Americans in the process as well,” Rubio emphasized. “In fact, they openly call for that. We should start believing these people on what they say.” Clearly Youtube holds a different, bizarre perspective.
Conservatives are under attack. Contact YouTube here and demand that Big Tech be held to account to mirror the First Amendment while providing transparency, clarity on so-called hate speech and equal footing for conservatives. If you have been censored, contact us using CensorTrack’s contact form, and help us hold Big Tech accountable.
