Google-owned YouTube has suspended former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani’s channel for a second Time.
Google Inc.’s YouTube has suspended the channel of former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani for a second time, claiming he violated the platform’s policies related to elections and other issues.
YouTube confirmed to news outlets that this ban on Giuliani is not permanent. Giuliani will not be able to upload videos and livestream for two weeks, and some videos on the channel have been removed.
In a statement sent to Bloomberg and other media outlets, a YouTube spokeswoman said, “We removed content from Rudy Giuliani’s channel because it violated our regulated merchandising policy, which prohibits content that encourages the use of nicotine. Some other content also violated our presidential election integrity policy.”
She said, “In addition, under our already long-standing freeze system, we have placed a freeze on the Rudy Giuliani Channel, temporarily restricting uploads or live streaming.”
It is speculated that the part of YouTube that says it “encourages nicotine use” may be related to Giuliani’s promotion of cigars and cigar companies in his YouTube videos.
YouTube and Giuliani were contacted for comment.
Giuliani, a former prosecutor who served as President Donald Trump‘s (Trump) attorney, and his team unsuccessfully challenged election results in several states. Giuliani and attorney Jenna Ellis have also held hearings with lawmakers in several states on election integrity issues.
Previously, YouTube suspended Giuliani’s video account in January, citing his content as relevant to the 2020 election. If he is blocked again, accumulating three times, the account will be permanently deactivated.
YouTube’s move is sure to spark criticism of the tech giant’s practice of censoring dissenting views.
Last week, YouTube removed a Newsmax News Network video that included an interview with Trump. The action sparked condemnation.
A Google spokesperson told via email, “We have clear community guidelines on what videos can be kept on YouTube. We consistently enforce our community guidelines, regardless of who the speaker is or what the political views are.”
Around the same time, YouTube removed a video of a lawyer testifying to the Ohio General Assembly and claiming it included false information about COVID-19 (the Chinese Communist virus). In a similar move, YouTube also removed testimony given by one of Trump’s lawyers at a U.S. congressional hearing.
In a speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Florida on Feb. 28, Trump told the crowd that big tech companies such as Google, Twitter, Facebook and Amazon should be punished by the state if they “silence conservative voices.
He said, “The time has come to break the monopoly of the tech giants and restore fair competition.” He added that Section 230 (Section 230) of the Communications Decency Act of 1996 must be repealed or amended.
“Without free speech, all the election integrity measures in the world would mean nothing,” Trump said. “If Republicans would be censored for telling the truth and accusing corruption, we wouldn’t have a democracy, we’d just have left-wing tyranny.”
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