Ben Stein

YouTube
Suspension

YouTube Suspends Account Of Former Presidential Speechwriter

Autumn Johnson

In an article posted Saturday for The American Spectator, longtime economist and former presidential speechwriter Ben Stein revealed that YouTube had suspended his economic and political show, The World According to Ben Stein.

On the most recent episode, Stein discussed why people who have been vaccinated against COVID-19 have contracted it. Stein questioned the efficiency of the vaccine, although he said that he would get a booster shot if his doctor recommended it:

“YouTube is such an immense communications entity that to be banned from it is to [be] banned from national mass communication,” Stein wrote. “Yes, it’s not part of the government, so the First Amendment does not strictly apply to it. BUT, it is so big that it approximates the government. And to be banned from it is to be banned from national debate on important issues.

The reasoning of YouTube — “THOU SHALT NOT QUESTION EXPERTS” — could easily be applied to issues of foreign policy or taxation or the national deficit. The reasoning of YouTube means the end of free speech. It means “The End of America.”

Earlier in the year, YouTube suspended Right Side Broadcasting Network from its platform and removed the news site’s videos of former President Donald Trump’s rallies.

YouTube said the footage violated the platform’s Community Guidelines, and that it removes content that "take[s] advantage of the YouTube community" prohibits content where the “main purpose is to trick others into leaving YouTube for another site."