YouTube bans Trump’s CPAC speech, unless “countervailing viewpoints” about election fraud claims are added
YouTube has banned the platforming of former President Donald Trump’s full 2021 CPAC speech. Users of the video-sharing site are allowed to host the speech only if they add “countervailing viewpoints” about Trump’s refuted claims regarding the results of the 2020 presidential election.
It is almost impossible to find any copy of Trump’s full 2021 CPAC speech, as YouTube has been swift in taking down any reuploads of the event. Existing copies of the speech have extensive commentary that push back on his remarks about the election.
Last week, Right Side Broadcasting Network (RSBN) was issued a two-week suspension and had its video of the full speech removed from the platform.
The channel had reportedly violated YouTube’s policy on presidential election integrity, which was implemented a month after the 2020 U.S. election amid Trump’s comments repeatedly asserting he was the true winner of the election.
Speaking to the Daily Wire, YouTube spokesperson Ivy Choi said that the platform enforces its Community Guidelines consistently, “regardless of speaker or political leaning.”
“In accordance with our established presidential election integrity policy, which prohibits content uploaded after the safe harbor deadline claiming widespread fraud changed the outcome of the 2020 U.S. presidential election, we removed this video from Right Side Broadcasting Network. Content featuring footage from CPAC 2021 that does not violate our policies or contains sufficient educational, documentary, scientific and artistic context remains on YouTube,” said Choi.
According to parent company Google, the policy requires that YouTube remove any content that was uploaded on or after Dec. 9, 2020 that suggests any past U.S. presidential election was fraudulent.
“On December 9, we started applying our Presidential Election Integrity policy (below) to the 2020 U.S. Presidential election, meaning we remove content that misleads people by alleging that widespread fraud or errors changed the outcome of the 2020 U.S. Presidential election uploaded on or after December 9,” Google Support states. “We have begun issuing strikes for new content that violates the policy uploaded on or after January 7, 2021.”
“Content that advances false claims that widespread fraud, errors, or glitches changed the outcome of any past U.S. presidential election (Note: this applies to elections in the United States only). For the U.S. 2020 presidential election, this applies to content uploaded on or after December 9, 2020,” it states.
The YouTube spokesperson informed the outlet that similar videos from Sky News and Fox do not violate the platform’s community guidelines because they emphasize that Trump did not win the election.
“Our video was removed because we refused to give ‘countervailing viewpoints’ following Trump’s speech,” RSBN told the Daily Wire.
The outlet stated that the YouTube policy essentially compelled speech. “Essentially they wanted us to go on air after he was done with his speech and ‘push back’ against his claims of election fraud,” RSBN said.
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