Less than two days after YouTube was alleged to be giving banned creators a second chance, the platform has reportedly banned controversial commentators Nick Fuentes and Alex Jones.
The news comes after Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) made announcements about how Google, parent of YouTube, was prepared to make a series of policy changes after admitting to the fact that “White House pressure” during the Biden administration led to censorship of “political debate on COVID and elections.”
‘To clarify, we terminated this channel as it’s still against our rules for previously terminated users to start a new channel …’
Rep. Jordan wrote on X, “Due to our oversight efforts, GOOGLE commits to offer ALL creators previously kicked off YouTube due to political speech violations to return to the platform.”
Testing out the new alleged commitments, both Alex Jones’ Infowars platform and Fuentes reportedly started new YouTube channels. According to Infowars, it started a channel called AlexJonesLive, while Fuentes reportedly started RealNickFuentes.
On Thursday morning, Infowars said its channel had been removed, while AF Post, along with some Fuentes supporters, said his page was taken down by YouTube as well.
It was not long before YouTube responded to both claims directly and revealed that the pages were not taken down by mistake.
Replying to Infowars, YouTube said, “To clarify, we terminated this channel as it’s still against our rules for previously terminated users to start a new channel — the pilot program for terminations isn’t available yet and will be a limited pilot program to start.”
The platform added, “We’ll have more to share on how the pilot program will work, who is eligible, and how creators can access it very soon.”
In response to the report by AF Post, YouTube similarly wrote that the company “terminated these channels as it’s still against our rules for previously terminated users to start new channels.”
On its own X page, YouTube explained again that the pilot program is not yet live and that it will continue to terminate “new channels from previously terminated users in accordance with these guidelines.”
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A spokesman for Rep. Jordan told Blaze News that the new YouTube program will only “extend at a minimum to any users banned for policies no longer in effect.”
The spokesman added, “The policies that have been rolled back the most were the COVID-19 and elections policies. This will include thousands of Americans and likely disproportionately conservatives. Others may be welcomed back onto the platform as well.”
Jordan’s office explained that, as they understand it, YouTube meant that the “limited” portion of the program referred to only users who were banned for policies that were no longer in effect. Still, Jordan’s team referred to this as a “massive change,” stating they believe it to be the first time YouTube has made a policy shift in this manner.
“But the main fact remains unchanged,” the spokesman continued. “ANY account banned for policies no longer in effect WILL be allowed back onto the platform.”
Blaze News asked Rep. Jordan’s team if they know when the expected pilot program is set to begin; his team said they did not, but that they “expect a much larger announcement in the coming days from YouTube and that people will start returning to the platform soon.”
“Our understanding is that YouTube is referring to it as a pilot program because it is a new step YouTube has not taken before, and there may be issues to work through with the rollout,” the spokesman added.
Fuentes spoke on his channel’s deletion his X page on Thursday, noting YouTube’s comment about reinstating “channels they approve under a ‘limited pilot program.’”
“Sounds a little ridiculous. Can’t we just have free speech?” he asked. “I’ve been banned since February 2020 when I was 21 years old.”
He continued on his show, “America First,” and revealed it was Jones’ idea to do a “stress test” on YouTube by creating new accounts.
“It didn’t last even 12 hours,” he explained. “YouTube should have free speech; you said you have a renewed commitment to free speech. But you’re still banning people?”
Vivek Ramaswamy, Republican candidate for governor of Ohio, said that while he thinks Fuentes may not like him, he still finds it “un-American” for his channel to be removed.
“Our country is at its best when we’re able to hear one another,” Ramaswamy wrote on X. “Nick Fuentes & Jimmy Kimmel probably don’t like me, for different reasons. I don’t care. It’s still un-American to muzzle the peaceful expression of opinions. And no, that’s not a legal point, it’s a cultural point.”
YouTube did not respond to Blaze News’ questions about its pilot program.
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