johnrlott
Dr. John Lott has a brand new op-ed piece at Townhall.
Twice in thirty days, YouTube censored movies of mine on matters that I beforehand lined for Actual Clear Investigations and Actual Clear Politics. The video platform blocked me from posting something for 2 weeks, and mentioned that the ban could be everlasting if one other violation occurred within the subsequent 90 days.
In January, a violation was issued after I posted a video on the issues with mail-in voting in Missoula County, Montana (“A River of Doubt Runs Through Mail Voting in Big Sky Country,” Real Clear Investigations, March 24, 2021). A recount of the mail-in poll envelopes discovered that 4,592 (6.33%) of 72,491 mail-in ballots lacked envelopes. With out an formally printed envelope, registration data, voter signature, and postmark date, election officers can’t confirm the vote’s legitimacy. It’s in opposition to the legislation to rely such votes.
My look on an America’s Voice information present additionally drew YouTube’s ire, this time for violating their community standards on “Elections misinformation insurance policies.” The rules clarify, “This at the moment applies to: Any previous U.S. Presidential election.”
In actual fact, the video by no means instantly mentioned the presidential election and by no means mentioned that Donald Trump received the election. Trump received Montana handily, so the outcomes there have been by no means in query. After an attraction, YouTube wrote again and mentioned that it had rigorously reviewed the video once more, however nonetheless wouldn’t change its choice. The corporate didn’t reply to my arguments.
One other apparently offensive appearance got here in February on Sebastian Gorka’s nationwide radio present. That interview mentioned President Biden’s nascent nationwide gun registry, after the ATF revealed that it had created a searchable digital database of 866 million firearms purchases (together with some 54 million in 2021 alone).
On this case, I used to be not in bother for something that Gorka or I mentioned within the interview, however as a result of Gorka supposedly violated neighborhood requirements in different episodes. So, apparently, I’m answerable for monitoring not simply what I say or what others say in my presence, but additionally for what others say at different occasions.
In Could 2020, YouTube flagged my eleven-second clip of a character in CBS’s Blue Bloods making the false declare that police commit suicides at excessive charges as a result of they’ve “quick access to weapons.” the clip was yet one more instance of the deceptive data that tv exhibits present about weapons. I accompanied the video with a submit about educational analysis that exhibits there are no drops in overall suicide rates when guns are banned or when guns are required to be locked up.
Somebody complained to YouTube about my submit, however I by no means discovered what the issue was. I used to be merely instructed, “It’s necessary to us that YouTube is a protected place for all.”
These aren’t the one run-ins I’ve had with social media censorship. Twitter twice censored a submit of mine claiming that the 2019 New Zealand mosque shooter was “a socialist, environmentalist, who hates capitalists & free commerce.” I additionally wrote that the killer believed his assault would “result in extra gun management” in New Zealand and the USA. Twitter didn’t trouble to supply me with a proof for why they locked my account for months. After I wrote in regards to the incident within the New York Daily News, the Crime Prevention Analysis Middle tweeted out a hyperlink to my article and its account was subsequently locked.
Probably the most maddening factor is the frequent lack of readability in regards to the actual nature of the violations. I’ve now taken to additionally posting on Rumble, which doesn’t censor content material, however it is going to take some time earlier than I achieve as many followers as I’ve on YouTube.
All that is occurring on the similar time that the social media giants are refusing to block the accounts of terrorists and invading governments.
However that wasn’t the top of the story. After my appeals to YouTube failed, I reached out to Grover Norquist, , an influential Washington, D.C. conservative and president of Individuals for Tax Reform. His workers interceded with Google, YouTube’s mother or father firm. After 4 days, Google eliminated all the strikes on my account and reactivated it. “I want to apologize once more for the disruption our errors induced you,” a Google staffer wrote me.
Whereas issues finally labored out, my accounts had been closed for two-and-a-half weeks this 12 months, I might have gotten nowhere if I didn’t know an influential one that had private contacts. The issue is extra elementary. The staffers are deliberately censoring individuals they disagree with, and I doubt they obtained in any bother for his or her “errors”. YouTube doesn’t respect free speech, and persons are much less knowledgeable due to it.
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