Press release: LOS ANGELES \u2014 Prager University (PragerU) has filed a lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California to stop Google and YouTube from unlawfully censoring its educational videos and discriminating against its right to freedom of speech. <\/p>\n
The lawsuit cites more than 50 PragerU videos which have either been \u201crestricted\u201d or \u201cdemonetized\u201d by Google\/YouTube. The PragerU videos range on various subjects presenting a conservative point of view, and include a video by noted Harvard Law professor Alan Dershowitz on the founding of Israel. PragerU previously compiled a complete list of their restricted videos here, which includes: \u201cWhy America Must Lead,\u201d \u201cThe Ten Commandments: Do Not Murder,\u201d \u201cWhy Did America Fight the Korean War,\u201d and \u201cThe World\u2019s Most Persecuted Minority: Christians.\u201d <\/p>\n
In correspondence cited in the filing, Google\/YouTube made it clear that the censorship of certain videos was because they were deemed \u201cinappropriate\u201d for younger audiences.<\/p>\n
\u201cWatch any one of our videos and you\u2019ll immediately realize that Google\/YouTube censorship is entirely ideologically driven. For the record, our videos are presented by some of the finest minds in the Western world, including four Pulitzer Prize winners, former prime ministers, and professors from the most prestigious universities in America,\u201d stated PragerU founder Dennis Prager.<\/p>\n
Prager added, \u201cThey are engaging in an arbitrary and capricious use of their \u2018restricted mode\u2019 and \u2018demonetization\u2019 to restrict non-left political thought. Their censorship is profoundly damaging because Google and YouTube own and control the largest forum for public participation in video-based speech in not only California, but the United States, and the world.\u201d<\/p>\n
The total number of people who currently use YouTube exceeds 1.3 billion people. Google and YouTube advertise YouTube to the public as a forum intended to defend and protect free speech where members of the general public may express and exchange their ideas. They have represented that their platforms and services are intended to effectuate the exercise of free speech among the public. According to Google and YouTube: \u201cvoices matter.\u201d YouTube states that it is \u201ccommitted to fostering a community where everyone\u2019s voice can be heard.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHowever,\u201d said Eric George of Browne George Ross, the firm representing PragerU, \u201cGoogle and YouTube use restricted mode filtering not to protect younger or sensitive viewers from \u2018inappropriate\u2019 video content, but as a political gag mechanism to silence PragerU. Google and YouTube do this not because they have identified video content that violates their guidelines or is otherwise inappropriate for younger viewers, but because PragerU is a conservative nonprofit organization that is associated with and espouses the views of leading conservative speakers and scholars.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cThis is speech discrimination plain and simple, censorship based entirely on unspecified ideological objection to the message or on the perceived identity and political viewpoint of the speaker,\u201d said former California Governor Pete Wilson of Browne George Ross. \u201cGoogle and YouTube\u2019s use of restricted mode filtering to silence PragerU violates its fundamental First Amendment rights under both the California and United States Constitutions. It constitutes unlawful discrimination under California law, is a misleading and unfair business practice, and breaches the warranty of good faith and fair dealing implied in Google and YouTube\u2019s own Terms of Use and ‘Community Guidelines.’\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cThere is absolutely nothing \u2018inappropriate\u2019 about the content of the PragerU videos censored by Google and YouTube; the videos do not contain any profanity, nudity or otherwise inappropriate \u2018mature\u2019 content and they fully comply with the letter of YouTube\u2019s Terms of Use and Community Guidelines,\u201d said Marissa Streit, PragerU\u2019s chief executive officer who has engaged in a year-long-effort to try and persuade Google to stop censoring PragerU content. Streit continues, \u201cIt’s clear that someone doesn\u2019t like what we teach and so they intend on stopping us from teaching it. Can you imagine what the world would look like if Google is allowed to continue to arbitrarily censor ideas they simply don\u2019t agree with?\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cThis is not a left\/right issue. It is a free speech issue, which is why prominent liberals, such as Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz, are supporting our lawsuit,\u201d Prager concluded.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Press release: LOS ANGELES \u2014 Prager University (PragerU) has filed a lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California to stop Google and YouTube from unlawfully censoring its educational videos and discriminating against its right … Continue reading