YouTube’s constant censorship of conservatives is probably not going anywhere, and neither is the platform’s denial of silencing right-wing opinions.
YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki appeared at the Poland-based Impact ‘21 conference and denied YouTube’s increasingly blatant censorship of conservative voices online.
Łukasz Mężyk, a moderator for the conference, asked Wojcicki “Has YouTube got a political agenda?” She responded, “So, so, no, we don’t have a political agenda.” She went on to say: “[F]rom a business and, and a product perspective, like, we are incented to offer as many views and many perspectives and have content that is interesting to, to a broad range of users.”
Wojcicki also appeared to forget that people who build systems have political biases: “We build systems. The systems have no concept of political view or bias. So that’s not how our systems are, are built in the first place.”
She then reiterated her point, suggesting that YouTube does not censor conservatives. “So, um, I would just say no,” she continued. “We have our, our, that’s not our goal in any way. Our goal is to have a broad range of views and really only draw the line if we think there’s something that’s gonna to lead to real-world harm.”
Common sense and trends have proved Wojcicki wrong, however. The platform recently suspended conservative comedian Steven Crowder’s channel again, reportedly for an episode on his “Louder with Crowder” show headlined “Wake Up! Columbus Police Shooting of Ma’Khia Bryant Was Justified!” YouTube also banned the channel of the pro-life, nonprofit outlet LifeSiteNews in February 2021.
Poland, where the conference took place, has stepped up in the fight against censorship online. In December 2020, Polish Justice Minister Zbigniew Ziobro announced a legal initiative to allow users to file complaints if their posts were removed. The initiative would also create a specific court for freedom of speech.
Conservatives are under attack. Contact YouTube at 650-253-0000 and demand that Big Tech be held to account to mirror the First Amendment while providing transparency, clarity on “hate speech” and equal footing for conservatives. If you have been censored, contact us at the Media Research Center contact form, and help us hold Big Tech accountable.
