If you were to stumble (drunkenly or otherwise) across Wendy Bell's Facebook page today, you'd see this:
The first two paragraphs:
In an astonishing assault on Americans' First Amendment right to freedom of speech, YouTube announced today it will take down any videos that discuss election fraud.Holy. Freaking. JESUS.
Um, Wendy? Isn't there a commandment against using The Lord's name in vain? Didn't you just do that? I'm not a believer, but it's my understanding that breaking one of the commandments is a really really bad thing to do, right? So why did you do it, Wendy? Why put your immortal soul at risk for something as mundane as politics?
Eternal damnation of the Angel of Death aside, Wendy also just lied to her devotees when she said that YouTube will take down any videos that discuss election fraud.
Wrong Wendy Bell. Wrong.
By the way, "lying" is mentioned in yet another commandment ("Thou shalt not bear false witness"). Hey, Wendy! You're two-for-two on breaking commandments today! Congratulations!
Anyway, here is what YouTube actually announced:
Yesterday was the safe harbor deadline for the U.S. Presidential election and enough states have certified their election results to determine a President-elect. Given that, we will start removing any piece of content uploaded today (or anytime after) that misleads people by alleging that widespread fraud or errors changed the outcome of the 2020 U.S. Presidential election, in line with our approach towards historical U.S. Presidential elections. For example, we will remove videos claiming that a Presidential candidate won the election due to widespread software glitches or counting errors. We will begin enforcing this policy today, and will ramp up in the weeks to come. [Emphasis added.]
Mislead, Wendy. Not discuss. Can you see that?
Since there's no evidence that "counting errors" or "software glitches" changed the outcome of the 2020 election, any allegations of such evidence (such as yours, Wendy) will be removed by YouTube, a private entity owned by Google.
Which brings us to yet another lie of yours, Wendy. This is not a First Amendment issue.
This is the pertinent part First Amendment:
Congress shall make no law...abridging the freedom of speech...
The lesson here is that a private entity can abridge your freedom of speech but the government can't.
For example if a television newscaster were to post some racist remarks on Facebook that didn't adhere to that TV station's "ethics and journalistic standards," that station could fire said racist broadcaster, right?
Or if a radio broadcaster were to advocate for the police to illegally "shoot on sight" protestors, that broadcaster's employers would be within their rights to distance themselves from said fascist broadcaster, right?
You should have learned this lesson by now, Wendy Bell. Why haven't you?
Stop playing the conservative victim card.
Stop lying to your audience.
Try to remember what being a journalist was all about. Or being a good human being.
