YouTube CEO Wins ‘Free Expression Award’ Sponsored by YouTube, Then Boasts How Platform Censors Content Creators
RT.com | April 19, 2021

Susan Wojcicki, the CEO of Google’s video platform YouTube, was awarded the Freedom Forum Institute’s ‘Free Expression Award’ on Friday in a ceremony sponsored by her own company – despite YouTube’s track record of censorship.

In the digital awards ceremony, YouTube video creator Molly Burke praised Wojcicki as a free speech leader before the YouTube CEO detailed in her acceptance speech how much the platform censors its users.

“The freedoms we have, we really can’t take for granted,” Wojcicki declared, adding that “we really have to make sure we’re protecting them in every way possible.”

Wojcicki, however, went on to argue that “we also need to make sure there are limits,” and revealed that the company removed nine million videos in the last quarter, 90% of which were taken down by machines.

… a Twitter user wrote, “Free Expression Award? Are they having a laugh[?] Didn’t she just censor the governor of Florida speaking with medical experts[?]”

YouTube banned a video of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis talking about the benefits and cons of children wearing Covid-19 face masks with a panel of scientists earlier this month, calling it “medical misinformation.”

Several high-profile users have been banned from YouTube, including Infowars founder Alex Jones, British rapper Wiley, and former White House adviser Seb Gorka, while many others have faced various degrees of censorship from content-hiding to demonetization.

Former president Donald Trump, conservative television network One America News (OAN), and the government of Pakistan have also received temporary bans over the past few years.