The Big Tech war on free speech has been taken to a new level with YouTube taking down video of a United States senator engaging in privileged speech on the Senate floor.
Politico reported Thursday that YouTube has removed video of Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) reading his impeachment trial question on the Senate floor during a break in the trial on February 4 after presiding officer Chief Justice John Roberts refused to pose it to the House Managers and President Trump’s legal team. Paul tried for two days to get the question asked but Roberts refused, the first day quietly sending a message to Paul and the second day verbally refusing the question.
On January 30, Paul left the Senate floor after Roberts’ second refusal and held an impromptu press conference where he read his question about the origin of the Ukraine impeachment plot and whether two then National Security Council staffers, Sean Misko and Eric Ciaramella were involved. While Paul did not name him as the whistleblower and claims to not know who the whistleblower is, the mere mention of the name of the alleged Ukraine whistleblower Eric Ciaramella provoked criticism of Paul by Democrats and the filing of a Senate ethics complaint against him.
YouTube has also removed videos of that Paul press conference. Two YouTube videos of the Paul press conference linked by this writer on Twitter have been taken down by YouTube.
Another video on YouTube. Check later to see if still up after reports these are being taken down. Rand Paul Question not Allowed by Justice Roberts https://t.co/VbSsTo8Zo0 via @YouTube— Kristinn Taylor (@KristinnFR) January 31, 2020
YouTube is reportedly taking down videos of Rand Paul's Thursday press conference. about his question censored by Chief Justice Roberts. Check later to see if this is still up. RP is Fire https://t.co/7M4pj8bAZ4 via @YouTube— Kristinn Taylor (@KristinnFR) January 31, 2020
Politico Playbook reported comments by Paul and YouTube:
PAUL TOLD US THIS: “It is a chilling and disturbing day in America when giant web companies such as YouTube decide to censure speech. Now, even protected speech, such as that of a senator on the Senate floor, can be blocked from getting to the American people. This is dangerous and politically biased. Nowhere in my speech did I accuse anyone of being a whistleblower, nor do I know the whistleblower’s identity.”YOUTUBE’S IVY CHOI says: “Videos, comments, and other forms of content that mention the leaked whistleblower’s name violate YouTube’s Community Guidelines and will be removed from YouTube. We’ve removed hundreds of videos and over ten thousand comments that contained the name. Video uploaders have the option to edit their videos to exclude the name and reupload.”
To their credit, C-SPAN and Twitter have not censored the video of Paul’s floor speech.
On the floor of the U.S. Senate, Sen. @RandPaul reads and displays the question which Chief Justice Roberts declined to read last week during the Impeachment Trial. pic.twitter.com/nxZb255IbU— CSPAN (@cspan) February 4, 2020
Video of Paul’s press conference is also still on Twitter:
Chief Justice Roberts refused to read Sen. @RandPaul's question during the impeachment trial, so Rand Paul held a press conference and read it himself. pic.twitter.com/en1zOJRL0s— The First (@TheFirstonTV) January 30, 2020
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