YouTube reinstates Giuliani podcast exploring Biden ties to China

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 c... (Read more)

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