Two congressional Republicans have begun taking concrete action against NewsGuard and YouTube over their censorious ways.
First up is House Oversight Committee chair James Comer, who penned a letter to the leftist censorship operation known as NewsGuard this week demanding access to all documents “related to all past and present contracts with or grants administered by government agencies.”
The concern by Comer is that NewsGuard has been colluding with the Biden-Harris administration to silence and censor dissenting voices.
Thank you @RepJamesComer ! @NewsGuardRating took money from the Defense Department, was a purveyor of misinformation about the Hunter Biden laptop and Covid, and an advocate of mass censorship led by our corrupt mainstream news media.https://t.co/pwsC0LlmVn pic.twitter.com/zl45zK8gzP
— Michael Shellenberger (@shellenberger) October 25, 2024
“These wide-ranging connections with various government agencies are taking place as the government is rapidly expanding into the censorship sphere,” Comer said in a statement. “For example, one search of government grants and contracts from 2016 through 2023 revealed that there were 538 separate grants and 36 different government contracts specifically to address ‘misinformation’ and ‘disinformation.’”
“The protection of First Amendment rights of American citizens is paramount and attempts by government actors to infringe on those rights is dangerous and misguided,” he added.
NewsGuard is, as previously reported, an organization that purports to make Internet content more reliable by flagging and censoring so-called “misinformation” and “disinformation.”
But as previously documented, NewsGuard has a pesky but predictable habit of applying the “misinformation” and “disinformation” label to otherwise factually accurate content that belies the official narrative.
News rating groups like @NewsGuardRating claim to be objective and have special insight into “misinformation,” but they don’t. NewsGuard takes money from the Pentagon and spreads misinformation about covid’s origin. It is arrogant & depends on the fear & greed of legacy media. pic.twitter.com/U0KBHz6esM
— Michael Shellenberger (@shellenberger) August 3, 2023
The irony is that NewsGuard has its own rich history of peddling ACTUAL misinformation and disinformation. Meanwhile, the leftist organization has never penalized the corporate propaganda media for propagating the Russian collusion delusion hoax and conspiracy theory.
Next up is House Judiciary Committee Chair Jim Jordan, who penned a letter to Alphabet CEO Sundar Pitchai this week accusing YouTube, which is owned by Alphabet, of censoring famous podcaster Joe Rogan’s recent interview with former President Donald Trump.
Since there’s an issue with searching for this episode on YouTube here is the full podcast with Trump pic.twitter.com/sl2GTUaWdE
— Joe Rogan (@joerogan) October 29, 2024
“On October 25, 2024, Joe Rogan posted his interview with President Trump on his YouTube channel, quickly accumulating tens of millions of views,” the letter reads. “However, just three days later, on October 28, YouTube users reported difficulty searching for the video on YouTube.”
“Recent news coverage reports that ‘search[es]’ on YouTube using the terms ‘Joe Rogan Trump’ or ‘Joe Rogan Donald Trump’ did not bring up Friday’s three-hour sit-down at the top of the list. The interview ‘also was notably absent from YouTube’s trending page on Monday.’ Rather, when users searched for the video, they were reportedly fed ‘results of videos from traditional media outlets,’” the letter continues.
#NEWS: @_ ‘
The Committee demands answers on why YouTube suppressed @joerogan’s October 25 interview with President Trump.
It also raises concerns… pic.twitter.com/5k4aLcmeFQ
— House Judiciary GOP (@JudiciaryGOP) October 31, 2024
Read more here: pic.twitter.com/5eCDLSGar8
— House Judiciary GOP (@JudiciaryGOP) October 31, 2024
YouTube has for its part somewhat admitted the censorship.
“For some searches on Monday the original 3-hour interview didn’t appear prominently,” a company spokesperson said earlier this week. “Short excerpts uploaded by the Joe Rogan channel appeared, but we know it was frustrating for users looking to find the full video.”
“We’ve worked to resolve this and viewers will begin seeing the full podcast in more YouTube search results soon,” they added.
While the admission was appreciated, it was still not a good sign.
“Americans deserve access to political speech, especially in the closing weeks before an election,” Jordan wrote in his letter. “Given the company’s recent history of censorship, including at the behest of the Biden-Harris Administration, YouTube’s censorship of former President Trump is particularly troubling.”
“Therefore, we request an immediate briefing about (1) YouTube’s censorship of Joe Rogan’s October 25, 2024, video featuring his interview with former President Trump; and (2) Google Search’s elevation of anti-Trump stories about the interview,” he added.
