Posted on 05/29/2020 8:42:35 AM PDT by MarvinStinson
YouTube removed and then reinstated an episode of Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani's podcast about former Vice President Joe Biden's relationship with China.
A spokesperson for the platform told the Washington Examiner on Thursday that the video, which was posted on April 24 and deleted on May 12, was removed accidentally and has been reposted.
"Our team is glad the mistake was rectified," Giuliani's spokesperson told the Washington Examiner.
Giuliani's team was informed early in the morning on May 12 that "video has been removed from YouTube" because it "was flagged to us for review," and upon that review, they "determined that it violates our guidelines," according to a representative for the former New York City mayor.
Giuliani's spokesperson said they "responded to YouTube" shortly after the removal "by saying that this appears to be a very arbitrary removal as no specific guidelines, violated, were given and have requested either the specific objectionable content or reinstatement of the episode."
The podcast episode, titled "Joe Biden's relationship with China, 'they make the Clintons look like cheapos,'" featured former U.S. Attorney Joe DiGenova, his wife and legal partner Victoria Toensing, and former deputy national security adviser K. T. McFarland.
"The YouTube removal is another example of blatant political censorship," he told the Washington Examiner.
President Trump signed an executive order on Thursday to combat what he saw was an unfair censorship of conservative voices by social media companies. The directive is designed to have the Federal Communications Commission review social media companies and the protections they are granted under Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act. The order allows those companies to be considered a "platform," rather than a "publisher," to protect them from liability. Legal experts and others, including Sen. Ron Wyden, one of the co-authors of Section 230, say the order is "illegal."
"Section 230 is a threat to free speech," DiGenova said. "It is abundantly clear that these platforms are publishers because they control content ideologically and philosophically and politically. They are not neutral forums. They edit, which is the essence of publishing. They have abused their section 230 immunity, and it should be stripped away. This is not even arguable anymore. And they cannot hide behind algorithms. People write those algorithms: their people. And only one side gets silenced. Guess who. They are toying with everyone. It is arrogant and obvious. President Trump has them correctly identified. Lose 230."
Giuliani's conversation with DiGenova and Toensing during the podcast initially focused on Trump's response to the coronavirus and how Biden would have handled the situation if he were the commander in chief, but it quickly shifted to discussing controversial allegations of corruption that the Bidens have faced from the Right.
Trump got entangled in impeachment after he pressed Ukraine to announce an investigation into alleged corruption by the Bidens. Some of his allies, particularly Giuliani, have also repeatedly stated that Biden, now the Democratic presidential front-runner, and his son Hunter also had corrupt dealings in China.
“Well, Rudy, as you well know, Vice President Biden was a one-man grifter show for the Obama administration," DiGenova told Giuliani. "Wherever he went, whether it was Ukraine or China, he had his son on Air Force Two cutting deals for the Biden family. Whether it was the Burisma gas company in Ukraine or the Chinese communist investment of $1.5 billion in an investment fund that Hunter Biden was a partner in. The truth is Biden was covering from the Chinese for the last eight years, and the notion that he would be tougher on the Chinese is an absolute joke.”
Toensing brought up Hunter Biden's role on BHR (Shanghai) Equity Investment Fund Management Company, even though he resigned from the company’s board in October 2019. The company’s CEO released a statement last month saying he was no longer on the board after Trump allies touted a report that claimed the younger Biden never resigned from the board as he had pledged.
“And here’s the pass that the media is giving — Hunter Biden allegedly resigned from that Board of Directors at BHR Equity funders last October and yet, no evidence was given of that," she added. "And he’s still listed as one of the directors, but when he allegedly resigned from that board, he said I don’t want it to be a conflict for if my father gets to be president — why wasn’t it a conflict when his father was Vice President?"
The younger Biden is not listed on BHR Equity Investment Fund Management Company's website as a member of their team.
The guideline is clear: If a liberal complains about something, it will be removed.
“””””YouTube reinstates Giuliani podcast exploring Biden ties to China””””””””””””””
That’s mighty white of them.
Does anyone have a hot link to the youtube video that was supposed to have been “restored “ ?
The tech giants are panicking over that executive order. Suddenly fixing ‘mistakes’ and taking down ‘fact checks’
That’s called “winning”! The war is far from over, but at least Trump can post a chit.
A spokesperson for the platform told the Washington Examiner on Thursday that the video, which was posted on April 24 and deleted on May 12, was removed accidentally...
—
Awful lot of these sort of “accidents”.
For how long?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.