Los Angeles, C.A. – Earlier this week, I wrote about two doctors from Southern California who had spoke out against the stay orders. The physicians said that the data showed it was time to open the country back up. Since that time, YouTube removed the videos of the press conference. If you look at our article, you can see they’ve been removed.
Some of the doctors statements are still available, however. A local ABC affiliate did a story that is available on YouTube and contains some of the information.
Two Bakersfield doctors say their data shows shelter-in-place orders are no longer needed
Two Bakersfield doctors say their data shows shelter-in-place orders are no longer needed
While YouTube removed the videos, Facebook has yet to do so. When asked for comment, Facebook declined. In the NBC News article, it talks about the challenges of removing disinformation. But it truly highlights a bigger issue.
In an area when media is being produced from all over, media giants are left to determine what is allowed to say or not. For some, the doctors statements may be considered disinformation. For others, the article support their point of view.
YouTube states that the videos violate community guidelines. What community guidelines? They do not go along with popular opinion and the narrative that YouTube would like to push.
Conservative outlet PragerU filed a lawsuit against YouTube for censorship on similar grounds. They later lost the suit, but it did set a precedent for what YouTube is doing. In the ruling, the judge ruled that YouTube was not a public forum. This allows YouTube to remove any item that it simply does not want to appear.
YouTube has denied that it has any political bias, but the evidence proves otherwise. A 2019 report highlighted how they removed over 300 Trump campaign ads. The Google organization as a hole has come under fire for their changes and blacklisting of conservative causes.
While I agree that Google and subsidiary YouTube are private business, when will there be consideration given to how individuals access content? For any digital media organization, Google and YouTube are the #1 and #2 search engines to distribute content.
How do conservatives combat the bias? There has to be some consideration to competition that allows those items to appear. We’ve seen various social media platforms present that allow use without moderation. One great example is that of Parler.
You are not going to hear me advocate for government control over the private business of Google and YouTube. That sets a scary precedent, but there must be an encouragement for alternatives.
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