This morning, Google-owned YouTube deleted the Novara Media channel, supposedly without warning nor explanation. Despite obvious political differences between Guido and Novara, if that is true it is manifestly wrong for them to have been silenced by YouTube. As it was when TalkRadio’s channel was deleted back in January.
As Novara note, they are “among the top 50 most watched news and politics channels in the UK” and are already regulated by IMPRESS. Users trying to access the channel are told by YouTube:
“This account has been terminated due to multiple or severe violations of YouTube’s policy against spam, deceptive practices, and misleading content or other Terms of Service violations.”
Guido hopes it won’t be long before we see a rapid u-turn and the channel’s restoration emerges from YouTube HQ…
UPDATE: Gary, Novara’s video editor, has hopefully had a moment of realisation today:
It's not censorship when a private company decides to remove you from it's platform.
— Gary McQuiggin (@ggaaarrryyyy) June 20, 2020
You don't have an inalienable right to a Twitter account.
Whether or not you agree with what we publish, it shouldn't be the whim of giant tech companies to delete us overnight with no explanation. https://t.co/DnBqzQrMLh
— Gary McQuiggin (@ggaaarrryyyy) October 26, 2021
UPDATE: For our take on the freedom of speech implications of this takedown, watch our latest Guido Talks.
