Missouri Rep. Billy Long, who is running for the Republican nomination for Senate, is firing back at YouTube after it removed one of his campaign commercials.
The ad, which was slated to air on Newsmax and One America News, highlighted Long’s early support for former President Donald Trump and said Democrats rigged the election in 2020. Polls find Trump is currently the frontrunner against any Democrat nominee for 2024.
“As we’ve clearly and publicly outlined, we prohibit content uploaded after official election results were certified advancing false claims that widespread fraud, errors or glitches changed the outcome of the 2020 U.S. presidential election,” said Ivy Choi, a spokesperson for YouTube. “Our policies apply equally for everyone, and we remove content that violates our election integrity policy, regardless of the speaker.”
But Long, who is one of several Republican candidates vying for the open U.S. Senate seat in Missouri, said the removal of his ad was proof “Big Tech certainly has and will continue to influence elections.”
“I am not alone in getting canceled by YouTube,” he said. “There has been a deliberate, orchestrated effort by Big Tech to silence those who have views that do not align with their liberal-leaning agenda. Just look at what Twitter did to President Trump. He is still banned from communicating directly to the American people on its platform. Meanwhile, YouTube protects the platforms of losing candidates like Stacey Abrams and Hillary Clinton who continue to question their election outcomes.”
READ: Metro Voice interviews Congresswoman Vicky Hartzler
Long called the censorship un-American. “That is why I am running for U.S. Senate — to hold Big Tech accountable for these overreaching actions and to protect the right of the American people to have free speech,” he said.
Long is not the only GOP lawmaker to face removal of ads from YouTube. Senators Ron Johnson of Wisconsin and Rand Paul of Kentucky were suspended after posting comments about COVID-19, the Associated Press reported. Youtube has refused to reinstate videos they removed because of “information” even as the data and CDC guidance now shows those statements to have been proved true.
Trump has yet to endorse a candidate in the race. Long is working with Jamestown Associates, which did media for Trump, and Kellyanne Conway, the White House counselor who also served as Trump’s 2016 campaign manager. Congresswoman Vicky Hartzler the frontrunner, plus former Gov. Eric Greitens, Attorney General Eric Schmitt, Senate President Pro Tem Dave Schatz and attorney Mark McCloskey also are vying for the GOP nomination.
Just over half of Americans believe Joe Biden won the election.
–Alan Goforth | Metro Voice