Google has admitted to lawmakers that the Biden administration “pressured” the company to “remove” certain content during the COVID-19 pandemic. Alphabet chief counsel Daniel Donovan sent a letter Tuesday to House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan that included statements from YouTube acknowledging it engaged in censorship of political speech on behalf of the administration.
In the letter, Google admitted to the committee that the Biden administration pressured the company to censor Americans and remove content that did not violate YouTube’s policies. The company said this pressure was “unacceptable and wrong,” and emphasized that public debate should never come at the expense of relying on “authorities.”
Google also stated it would never use third-party “fact-checkers” and warned that Europe’s censorship laws target American companies and threaten American speech, including by forcing the removal of “lawful content.”
Donovan told the committee that the Biden administration “created a political atmosphere that sought to influence the actions of platforms based on their concerns regarding misinformation.”
“It is unacceptable and wrong when any government, including the Biden Administration, attempts to dictate how the Company [Alphabet] moderates content,” Donovan wrote, “and the Company has consistently fought against those efforts on First Amendment grounds.”
According to Donovan’s letter, users who were removed from YouTube for violating COVID-19 and “election integrity” policies will now be allowed to “rejoin the platform.” He also said YouTube “never” prohibited content about the origins of COVID-19 and never “operated a fact-checking program.”
“YouTube takes seriously the importance of protecting free expression and access to a range of viewpoints,” Donovan claimed. “YouTube values conservative voices on its platform and recognizes that these creators have extensive reach and play an important role in civic discourse.”
