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Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Commissioner Brendan Carr on Tuesday called out Google’s YouTube for censoring comments critical of the Chinese government, citing a story in The Verge that quoted a company spokesman calling the censorship an “accident.”
In response to a report which stated YouTube had “accidentally been deleting comments containing two phrases that insult China’s Communist Party,” Carr commented, “Oopsie. We did a propaganda.”
Oopsie. We did a propaganda. https://t.co/QmxcxWG6EP
— Brendan Carr (@BrendanCarrFCC) May 26, 2020
Carr, a Republican member of the commission, also uploaded a video testing the censorship himself, which showed his own comments containing censored words being hidden within seconds of being posted.
“Can confirm that @youtube continues to delete comments that simply name the communist regime’s paid Internet trolls within 15 seconds of posting,” he declared.
Can confirm that @youtube continues to delete comments that simply name the communist regime’s paid Internet trolls within 15 seconds of posting. pic.twitter.com/GSd8xaVzbQ
— Brendan Carr (@BrendanCarrFCC) May 26, 2020
Google came under fire this week after Oculus VR founder Palmer Luckey claimed, “YouTube has deleted every comment I ever made about the Wumao (五毛), an internet propaganda division of the Chinese Communist Party.”
YouTube has deleted every comment I ever made about the Wumao (五毛), an internet propaganda division of the Chinese Communist Party. Who at Google decided to censor American comments on American videos hosted in America by an American platform that is already banned in China?
— Palmer Luckey (@PalmerLuckey) May 26, 2020
This appears to be a new global policy on YouTube, not directed at me specifically. Try saying anything negative about the 五毛, or even mentioning them at all. Your comment will last about 30 seconds and get deleted without warning or notice, CCP-censor style. To what end?
— Palmer Luckey (@PalmerLuckey) May 26, 2020
“Who at Google decided to censor American comments on American videos hosted in America by an American platform that is already banned in China?” Luckey questioned.
The accusation prompted concerned statements from Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO), with Cruz calling on the Department of Justice to “stop this NOW.”
In a statement, YouTube claimed the deletions were an accident. “This appears to be an error in our enforcement systems and we are investigating,” a spokesman said. “These removals were not a result of a policy change.”
