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Google has taken a page out of Mark Zuckerberg's playbook, telling House Republicans that the Biden administration pressured it to push down COVID-19 content that didn't violate its rules, and pledging its commitment to free expression on political issues.
Perfect timing given the Trump administration's latest wars on that particular inalienable right.
YouTube and Google parent company Alphabet sent a letter to House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH) on Tuesday in which it claimed, like Zuckerberg before it, that senior Biden administration officials "conducted repeated and sustained outreach" to the company to get it to remove content promoting COVID-19 conspiracy theories and misinformation from YouTube.
That content, Alphabet noted, didn't violate YouTube's COVID-19 policies. Election misinformation content, however, was subject to YouTube's election-integrity policies, which the platform enforced until retiring them in 2023. Those banned from the platform include former conservative commentator and now Deputy FBI Director Dan Bongino, Deputy Assistant to the President and former Viktor Orban advisor Sebastian Gorka, and Trump ally Steve Bannon.
Alphabet has since retired its stand-alone COVID-19 and election-fraud rules, the company said in its letter.
"It is unacceptable and wrong when any government, including the Biden administration, attempts to dictate how the Company moderates content," Alphabet said through its lawyers. "No matter the political atmosphere, YouTube will continue to enable free expression … particularly as it relates to issues subject to political debate."
YouTube values conservative voices on its platform
In addition to offering banned creators a path back, Alphabet also pointed out that YouTube has never used outside fact-checkers to create content to support moderation, and pledged that it would never do so. Third-party fact-checkers have often proven hostile to conservative talking points that clash with reality. Alphabet also appealed to Jordan and the Judiciary Committee to continue going after the European Union for its Digital Services Act and Digital Markets Act, which Alphabet said places "a disproportionate regulatory burden on American companies," presumably because they're concerned that the EU will continue prosecuting them for refusing to comply.
"YouTube values conservative voices on its platform," Alphabet said in the letter. "These creators are among those shaping today's online consumption."
In other words, Alphabet is glad to put those folks back on YouTube, be they spreaders of conspiracy theories and misinformation or not - it's sure good for revenue.
No, the irony isn't lost on us
Google may have been responding to subpoenas from the House Judiciary Republicans dated Feb 2023 and March of this year, but the timing of the letter and the Chocolate Factory's pledge to stay on the good side of conservative regulators couldn't be more appropriately ironic.
Just last week, American television network ABC suspended its late-night host Jimmy Kimmel after he made controversial remarks about the murder of conservative activist Charlie Kirk. ABC reinstated him this week after an outcry from viewers, including celebs who urged others to cancel their subscriptions to Disney+.
"Like the shameful capitulations to Trump's shakedowns of broadcast companies and law firms, this humiliating performance is the bitter fruit of Trump and MAGA's relentless pressure campaign forcing corporate America to submit to platforming propaganda and disinformation," ranking Judiciary Committee member Jamie Raskin (D-MD) said in response to Alphabet's letter.
- World's top AI chatbots have no problem parroting Russian disinformation
- A federal watchdog to police Big Tech? Yeah, that'll do the trick, senators...
- Days after half a billion Asians went to the polls, Big Tech promises to counter 2024 election misinformation
- US state AGs: How can Facebook, Google, Twitter say they tackle misinformation when *gestures wildly at COVID-19 BS everywhere*
Raskin described Alphabet's letter as making only "vague attempts" to pin its moderation of conservative content on the Biden administration, and noted that it was in opposition to the testimony of Alphabet employees, 20 of whom the letter mentioned had spoken to the Committee on the record. Jordan, according to Raskin, won't release transcripts of those discussions, which the Democratic representative argued contradicts the letter.
"If Judiciary Republicans were interested in fighting censorship, they would join Committee Democrats in fighting back against the onslaught of repression of free speech by Donald Trump," Raskin continued.
Where are the GOP's self-proclaimed First Amendment crusaders when we actually need them
The Maryland Democrat noted that the Trump administration had targeted journalists and newspapers, comedians like Kimmel and Stephen Colbert (whose show CBS says will end in May 2026, shortly after he blasted Paramount's $16M Trump settlement amid the pending Paramount–Skydance merger, led by the son of Trump backer Larry Ellison), universities, and others, all for saying things he didn't like.
"Where are [Republican's] self-proclaimed First Amendment crusaders when we actually need them," Raskin asked. Busy extracting pledges from the likes of Google and trying to cancel late-night comedians, as far as we can tell.
Neither Google nor the Judiciary Committee responded to questions. ®
