By Ian Miller

Copyright outkick

Freedom of speech has once again become a major talking point in current discourse, thanks to the suspension of late-night political show host Jimmy Kimmel. After Kimmel was briefly punished by ABC and Disney for making offensive remarks in the wake of the Charlie Kirk assassination, the Hollywood community, and political left at large, engaged in a series of letters, posts, and statements expressing support for free speech. Not to be found? Any similar letters, posts or statements from those same individuals expressing support for free speech when the political right was targeted by social media and tech companies for censorship and content removal. That monumental hypocrisy is as unsurprising as it is consistent. Particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic, people with a different view than Anthony Fauci or the CDC were frequently labeled, criticized, and demonetized. Tell the truth that masks don’t work? Censored. Say that COVID vaccines didn’t stop transmission? Demonetized. Say that schools should reopen because there was little to no risk to children? Labeled, censored, and demonetized. Google’s Censorship Was Inexcusable, Correction Long Overdue Rep. Jim Jordan, the Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, released a letter from Google/YouTube/Alphabet about how the Biden administration demanded they censor COVID-19 information that “did not violate” company policies. This unprecedented, fascistic, attack on free speech was used to kick prominent conservatives or those on the right wing off YouTube entirely, or severely restrict their ability to earn revenue. The letter explains how relentless Biden’s team was in violating the right to free speech. “The COVID-19 pandemic was an unprecedented time in which online platforms had to reach decisions about how best to balance freedom of expression with responsibility, including responsibility with respect to the moderation of user-generated content that could result in real world harm,” it reads. “Senior Biden Administration officials, including White House officials, conducted repeated and sustained outreach to Alphabet and pressed the Company regarding certain user-generated content related to the COVID-19 pandemic that did not violate its policies. While the Company continued to develop and enforce its policies independently, Biden Administration officials continued to press the Company to remove non-violative user-generated content. “As online platforms, including Alphabet, grappled with these decisions, the Administration’s officials, including President Biden, created a political atmosphere that sought to influence the actions of platforms based on their concerns regarding misinformation. “It is unacceptable and wrong when any government, including the Biden Administration, attempts to dictate how the Company moderates content, and the Company has consistently fought against those efforts on First Amendment grounds.” That’s a complete, comprehensive repudiation of the prior administration’s conduct as you’ll ever see. It specifically demanded Google take down content it didn’t like, and the members of legacy media or the entertainment industry did not care. In fact, not only did they not care, they supported the censorship and wanted more of it. Because they are massive hypocrites who only care about “censorship” when it supposedly impacts their party. As part of the announcement, Google/YouTube announced that they will allow “all creators” to return to the platform “if the company terminated their channels for repeated violations of COVID-19 and election integrity policies that are no longer in effect,” the company’s lawyer wrote. About time. Here’s the thing – this is only happening because a House committee, run by Republicans, demanded it. Google/YouTube would never have admitted wrongdoing without being forced into it. Because they too share Hollywood and the legacy media’s hypocrisy and political ideology. None of these people actually care about censorship or free speech, they care about protecting themselves and their party. It doesn’t make up for the damage they caused, but it’s a start. At least until the next Democrat administration comes into office and immediately demands more censorship.