YouTube’s decision this week to erase from its platform speeches from former U.S. President Donald Trump and Italy’s incoming Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni shows that Big Tech platforms continue to openly use their power to squash and silence political views they disagree with.
 
The platform scrubbed a 2019 speech by Meloni that railed against the assault on family values after it went viral on Monday following her electoral victory. YouTube claimed that it was removed for “violating YouTube’s Community Guidelines” but amid public pressure a spokesperson on Wednesday said the video had been reinstated after a probe found it was allegedly “mistakenly removed.”
 
Last week, YouTube also yanked a video of President Trump speaking at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Dallas in August because it reportedly contained “misinformation,” and gave CPAC a “strike” which prohibited the organization from posting for a week.
 
These censorship campaigns do grave damage to the electoral process and rob people from hearing directly from their political leaders – something that was until only recently seen in communist countries or military dictatorships – and must not be allowed to continue.
 
“YouTube’s decision this month to erase speeches from multiple world leaders is blatant interference in the democratic process and should be condemned by anyone who supports freedom of opinion and political debate,” GETTR Chief Executive Officer Jason Miller said.
 
“YouTube’s giant backflip on the Meloni video shows that this isn’t at all about community guidelines but their desire to remake the world in their image, and, most importantly, that under public pressure from enough people, they will reverse these politically-motivated acts of censorship. We urgently need platforms like GETTR to take on Big Tech and defend freedom of speech which is a cornerstone of political discourse,” he said.
 
Today, GETTR has over 6 million users in 192 different countries worldwide. Since launching on July 4, 2021, GETTR has become the fastest growing social media platform in history, reaching one million users in less than 3 days. The platform recently hit 250 million livestream views after launching the technology last October, and will soon announce major plans to allow content creators to monetize their work and keep more of their money.
 
Some of the most notable GETTR user accounts include Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, comedian and podcaster Russell Brand, conservative news commentators Tucker Carlson and Sean Hannity, British broadcaster and former UKIP leader Nigel Farage, former White House chief strategist and “War Room” host Steve Bannon, feminist author Naomi Wolf, radio great and author Mark Levin, investigative journalist Andy Ngo, former U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, and podcasting great Joe Rogan.