{"id":2272890,"date":"2024-06-20T18:10:02","date_gmt":"2024-06-20T22:10:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/congress-censorship-by-proxy-probe-explores-governments-role-in-new-youtube-policies\/"},"modified":"2024-06-20T18:13:06","modified_gmt":"2024-06-20T22:13:06","slug":"congress-censorship-by-proxy-probe-explores-governments-role-in-new-youtube-policies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/congress-censorship-by-proxy-probe-explores-governments-role-in-new-youtube-policies\/","title":{"rendered":"Congress Investigates Government Influence on New YouTube Policies"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">16<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fcongress-censorship-by-proxy-probe-explores-governments-role-in-new-youtube-policies%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2272890&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>This week, House\u2063 Republicans requested documents \u200bfrom YouTube, investigating potential \u2064pressures that influenced its recent\u2062 policy changes on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/billionaire-real-estate-investor-taken-to-hospital-for-mental-evaluation-after-posting-gun-videos-on-instagram\/\" title=\"Wealthy real estate mogul hospitalized for mental health evaluation following controversial gun videos on Instagram\">gun-related videos<\/a>. The \u200bHouse Judiciary Committee and the Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government suspect that government officials and third parties may have encouraged these changes \u2064to suppress content related \u200dto the Second Amendment. The new YouTube rules, which started on Tuesday, \u200bprohibit certain videos demonstrating how to disable safety features on firearms and restrict others showing homemade or automatic firearms and specific accessories. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg revealed that\u200d these changes were a result of advocacy\u200c efforts \u200bby his office. The inquiries suggest a\u200d concern over the government using private \u200ccompanies to bypass the First \u200cAmendment protections\u200d of free speech, \u2064with documents indicating federal pressure on YouTube&#8217;s parent company, Alphabet,\u2062 to censor content without actual\u2064 policy violations. These ongoing subpoortenas aim to expose the\u200c extent of government collusion with tech giants, potentially leading to \u2064new\u200b legislation limiting such interactions.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<p>House Republicans this week demanded documents from YouTube as part of an investigation into who pressured it to change its policies to prohibit certain videos involving guns.<\/p>\n<p>The House Judiciary Committee and the Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government <a href=\"https:\/\/judiciary.house.gov\/sites\/evo-subsites\/republicans-judiciary.house.gov\/files\/evo-media-document\/2024-06-18%20JDJ%20to%20Donovan%20-%20YouTube%20re%20firearms%20policy%20update.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">wrote<\/a> to lawyers for Alphabet, the parent company of Google and Youtube, saying that information suggests that \u201cYouTube\u2019s decision to change its firearms policy may have been influenced by government officials and third parties interested in suppressing certain Second Amendment-related content.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>On Tuesday, <a href=\"https:\/\/support.google.com\/youtube\/answer\/7667605?hl=en\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">new YouTube policies<\/a> went into effect pertaining to videos about firearms, saying that \u201ccertain content showing how to remove safety devices will be prohibited. Content showing the use of homemade firearms, automatic firearms, and certain firearm accessories will be age restricted.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Manhattan District Attorney <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/news\/trump-prosecutor-alvin-bragg-attended-fundraiser-for-group-that-fought-to-keep-trump-off-ballot\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Alvin Bragg<\/a>, the far-left prosecutor who targeted former President Donald Trump, said the change was \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/manhattanda.org\/d-a-bragg-applauds-youtube-for-changing-firearm-content-guidelines-in-response-to-advocacy-from-office\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">in response to<\/a> advocacy\u201d from his office.<\/p>\n<p>The line of questioning highlights a pattern in which the government seemingly circumvents the First Amendment by manipulating private companies, who are not required to respect free speech in the same way the government is.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\"> <\/span><\/p>\n<p>Judiciary Committee Chairman Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) said that documents obtained by the committee showed that \u201cthe federal government has pressured Alphabet to censor certain content, including content that did not violate YouTube\u2019s content moderation policies.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>His letter says a subpoena issued in February 2023 compelled \u201cAlphabet to produce communications between Alphabet and the Executive Branch, internal Alphabet communications discussing communications from the Executive Branch, and Alphabet communications with third parties that may have been working with the Executive Branch,\u201d and that the subpoena was \u201ccontinuing in nature.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTo <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/jim-jordan-subpoenas-anti-free-speech-group-over-censorship-collusion-with-biden-regime\/\" title=\"Jim Jordan subpoenas group involved in censorship collusion with Biden regime.\">develop effective legislation<\/a>, such as the possible enactment of new statutory limits on the Executive Branch\u2019s ability to work with Big Tech to restrict the circulation of content and deplatform users, the Committee and the Select Subcommittee must first understand how and to what extent the Executive Branch coerced and colluded with companies and other intermediaries to censor speech,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n<p>YouTube did not immediately return a request for comment.<\/p>\n<p>The Daily Wire and The Federalist are <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/news\/federal-judge-slaps-down-biden-administrations-attempt-to-dismiss-daily-wire-censorship-lawsuit\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">suing<\/a> the State Department for a similar move, arguing that when the government uses private companies as its proxies, it is still violating the Constitution.<\/p>\n<p>U.S. District Judge Jeremy D. Kernodle rejected early motions by the government, recalling that \u201cif there is any fixed star in our constitutional constellation, it is that no official, high or petty, can prescribe what shall be orthodox in politics, nationalism, religion, or other matters of opinion or force citizens to confess by word or act their faith therein.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The House Small Business Committee says the State Department is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/news\/state-department-subpoenaed-over-use-of-foreign-propaganda-weapon-against-domestic-media\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">hiding records<\/a> showing the extent of its ties to firms like NewsGuard and the Global Disinformation Index, which make lists of news outlets that are used as blacklists by advertisers.<\/p>\n<p>The House Oversight Committee is also <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/news\/congress-to-probe-media-rating-firm-newsguard-for-possible-taxpayer-funded-censorship\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">focused<\/a> on NewsGuard, which has received federal money.<\/p>\n<p>Jordan\u2019s committee is also honed in on the Global Alliance for Responsible Media <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/news\/misinformation-honcho-says-jim-jordan-is-assaulting-ad-industry-by-asking-for-documents-that-could-prove-partisan-bias\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">(GARM)<\/a>, part of a trade group consisting of major companies that run advertisements, and which he says may have violated antitrust laws by having the companies coordinate to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/expose-reveals-shadowy-left-wing-network-works-to-censor-deplatform-conservatives\/\" title=\"Expos\u00e9 Reveals Shadowy Left-Wing Network Works To Censor, Deplatform Conservatives\">blacklist conservative news outlets<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This week, House Republicans requested documents from YouTube, investigating potential pressures to alter its gun-related video policies. The House Judiciary Committee and the Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government contacted Alphabet&#8217;s lawyers, seeking clarity on policy changes at Google and YouTube&#8217;s parent company<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":128,"featured_media":2272891,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/dw-wp-production.imgix.net\/2023\/06\/GettyImages-1246972841-1-scaled-e1685736160598.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[541],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2272890","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-daily-wire"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/dw-wp-production.imgix.net\/2023\/06\/GettyImages-1246972841-1-scaled-e1685736160598.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2272890","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/128"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2272890"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2272890\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2272891"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2272890"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2272890"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2272890"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}