Politics
YouTube CEO: Trump’s account will be reinstated once ‘risk of violence has decreased’
Former President Donald Trump‘s YouTube channel will eventually be reinstated once the “risk of violence” has decreased, YouTube’s chief executive officer announced Thursday.
At an event hosted by the Atlantic Council, YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki said the company will rely on a variety of indicators to determine the level of violence, including statements by government officials, the readiness level of law enforcement and any violent rhetoric YouTube may observe.
She added that it is difficult to say when Trump’s account may be restored, however, it will continue to be suspended for now due to ongoing concerns of potential unrest targeting the U.S. Capitol.
“We will turn the account back on, but when we see reduced law enforcement in capitals in the U.S. and fewer [threat] warnings, those would be signals to us [that it is] safe to turn the channel back on,” Wojciciki said.
“It’s pretty clear right now,” she added, “that there is still an elevated risk of violence.”
On the same day Wojcicki made the announcement, YouTube wiped the platform of all videos of Trump’s speech at the Conservative Political Actions Conference and suspended Right Side Broadcasting Network (RSBN), a conservative account that published Trump’s speech.
RSBN noted that Trump’s CPAC speech may have been allowed to remain on the channel if they would have provided “countervailing viewpoints.”
“Essentially we would have had to go on air and say everything Trump just said about election fraud is not true,” RSBN said. “We try to follow the rules. Donât air certain things that we normally wouldâbut we wonât censor President Trump or push back against things he says that, quite frankly, we agree with.”
“Our network provides very little in the way of commentary. We basically just turn a camera on and show you whatâs happening- and let you decide,” RSBN wrote on Twitter. “People can choose to watch it, not watch it, hate it or love it. Thatâs called freedom. If thatâs no longer allowed then God help us.”
“This sort of manipulation and interference only shows how much weight these monopolies put on the scale of freedom. It’s never going to end until we all band together to stop it,” tweeted Donald Trump Jr.
Follow Annaliese Levy on Twitter @AnnalieseLevy
Actor Robert De Niro got a taste of Hollywood’s own medicine when he was reportedly unable to deliver his planned Trump-bashing speech at an awards show. The âKillers of the Flower Moonâ actor spoke at Monday’s Gotham Awards, but says when he took the stage he discovered that his anti-Trump remarks had been altered.
Variety reports:
The actor said he had not been informed of the changes, which took out any mention of the former president. De Niro, who was on hand to present âKillers of the Flower Moonâ with the Gotham Historical Icon and Creator Tribute, criticized the awards show and Apple. âI donât feel like thanking them at all for what they did,â he said. âHow dare they do that, actually.â
According to sources with knowledge of the show, a revised version of the speech was placed into the teleprompter less than ten minutes before the event started. Reportedly the speech was altered at the behest of Apple, the filmâs producer.
The source says the company was responding to feedback from the filmmaking team that wanted the actorâs remarks to be centered on the movie. However, a source close to the film denied that there was any censorship involved and said that the incident was a miscommunication.
There had been multiple versions of De Niroâs speech and there was a desire to focus solely on the moviemakers and their artistry, according to the source. Apple and the filmmakers were unaware that De Niro hadnât signed off on the final draft, the source maintained.
De Niro did however take the opportunity to criticize Trump regardless of the prompter; the actor read his remarks from his phone. âLying has become just another tool in the charlatanâs arsenal,â De Niro said. âThe former president lied to us more than 30,000 times during his four years in office. And heâs keeping up the pace in his current campaign of retribution. But with all his lies, he canât hide his soul. He attacks the weak, destroys the gifts of nature and shows disrespect, for example, by using âPocahontasâ as a slur” he stated.
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