Following an investigation and subpoenas from the House Judiciary Committee, Alphabet — the parent company of Google and YouTube — admitted to censoring conservative voices and claimed Biden administration officials pressured it to silence expression online. However, the company offered no compensation for the damages inevitably wrought on the voices they suppressed.
In a statement of facts letter from company counsel Daniel F. Donovan to Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, Alphabet and YouTube (collectively “the company”) committed to reinstating users whose accounts were terminated from YouTube for supposedly violating “COVID-19 and election integrity policies that are no longer in effect.” The company also claimed YouTube, which is owned by Google, “values conservative voices,” despite its deeply stained record of censoring, suspending, “contextualizing,” and kicking such conservative voices off the platform.
The letter did not offer any plans for compensation for individuals who were deplatformed or demonetized under YouTube’s former content policies.
The letter discussed changes to Covid-19 policies over time on the YouTube platform, and admitted that, though “reliance on health authorities in this context was well-intentioned, the Company recognizes that it should never come at the expense of public debate on these important issues.” (Notably, during the pandemic, the platform suppressed or threatened viewpoints challenging prominent narratives on masks, vaccines, and public health figures like Dr. Anthony Fauci.)
The letter also claims that senior Biden administration 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” and pressured “the Company to remove non-violative user-generated content.”
The letter adds that administration officials, “including President Biden, created a political atmosphere that sought to influence the actions of platforms based on their concerns regarding misinformation,” actions Alphabet and YouTube suggest are “unacceptable and wrong.” The company indicated that it “consistently fought against those efforts on First Amendment grounds,” despite countless contemporary examples of YouTube censoring critics of the Biden regime, such as lawmakers discussing constitutional limits to Covid vaccine mandates, or even livestream footage showcasing how Big Tech meddled in the 2020 election.
In addition to seemingly hiding behind the Biden administration and health officials to distract from its censorship, the company also blamed global restrictions put in place by the European Union for “plac[ing] a disproportionate regulatory burden on American companies.”
An article from Rep. Jordan and others explained that under the EU’s Digital Services Act (DSA), “European regulators push companies – including American tech companies – to change their terms of service and target political speech,” even attempting to quell political content on the American platform X because European users could be exposed to it.
In the letter, Alphabet and YouTube claimed they have “long expressed concern about the risk the DSA may pose to freedom of expression.” However, tech companies are also ultimately responsible for the policies they implement. Similar to how the Biden administration worked with Big Tech to censor conservative voices, the European Union gives online platforms tools to censor users via the DSA. The letter from YouTube and Alphabet admits as much, noting that “The DSA may open avenues for substantive speech regulation of lawful speech, including through risk mitigation [and] the use of codes of conduct and crisis protocols.”
As The Federalist’s CEO Sean Davis pointed out, Alphabet and Google’s apparent attempts to deflect are not enough. Finger-pointing at the government and hiding behind the “unprecedented” nature of Covid, vague “commitments” to free expression, or “evolving” company policies, do not right the wrongs of silencing American voices.
“Google owes us all damages for what their censorship cost us,” Davis wrote on X in response to the statement of facts letter. “A quick ‘we’re sorry’ now that they’re in trouble isn’t going to cut. Their censorship cost us millions.”
In 2020, Google threatened to demonetize The Federalist, supposedly over the contents of its comments section.
“This is part of a bigger problem. The culture of free speech in this country is under attack, and Google is helping lead the charge,” Sen. Ted Cruz wrote in a letter to Google CEO Sundar Pichai at the time. “Whereas Americans once understood that the best response to speech was more speech, some Americans, with the help of some of the most powerful companies on the planet, are now pressing to silence and punish those expressing views that do not align with the prevailing and ever-shifting progressive orthodoxy.”
“Google’s decision to target The Federalist is transparently politically motivated,” he added, noting that “Numerous ‘progressive’ media outlets allow comments” and that “on any given day, there are thousands of profane, racist, and indefensible comments posted on YouTube, which is a wholly owned subsidiary of Google.”
Google did not immediately respond to a request for comment.