House Judiciary Committee Chair Jim Jordan is seeking "immediate" answers from the CEO of YouTube's parent company Alphabet, Sundar Pichai, over alleged censorship of former president Donald Trump's recent interview with podcast host Joe Rogan.
Concretely, Jordan is seeking an "immediate briefing on" "YouTube's decision to censor Joe Rogan's Interview with President Trump," and "Google Search's elevation or material critical of the interview."
To substantiate his claims, the lawmaker detailed that users started having difficulties finding the interview in the platform just three days after it was uploaded despite using direct keywords.
"Rather, when users searched for the video, they were reportedly fed 'results of videos from traditional media outlets, like The Hill, MSNBC and Fox News, and their coverage of the interview. Similarly, Google Search results for the interview also reportedly 'populated anti-Trump results.'"
#NEWS: @๐๐ข๐ฆ_๐๐จ๐ซ๐๐๐ง ๐๐ซ๐๐ฌ๐ฌ๐๐ฌ ๐๐จ๐ฎ๐๐ฎ๐๐ ๐จ๐ง ๐๐๐ง๐ฌ๐จ๐ซ๐ฌ๐ก๐ข๐ฉ ๐จ๐ ๐๐จ๐ ๐๐จ๐ ๐๐ง'๐ฌ ๐๐ซ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฉ ๐๐ง๐ญ๐๐ซ๐ฏ๐ข๐๐ฐ
โ House Judiciary GOP ๐บ๐ธ๐บ๐ธ๐บ๐ธ (@JudiciaryGOP) October 31, 2024
The Committee demands answers on why YouTube suppressed @joeroganโs October 25 interview with President Trump.
It also raises concernsโฆ pic.twitter.com/5k4aLcmeFQ
The letter goes on to note that YouTube acknowledged and issue with the video, saying that "for some searches on Monday the original 3-hour interview didn't appear prominently" and that it was "frustrating for users looking to find the full video." It added that it was working "to resolve this and viewers will begin seeing the full podcast in more YouTube search results soon."
A quick "Donald Trump Joe Rogan" YouTube search did show the full podcast at the top of the results. The interview had over 42 million views by Friday morning.
Regardless, Jordan emphasized that "Americans deserve access to political speech" and that "given the company's recent history of censorship, including at the behest of the Biden-Harris administration," he is requesting an "immediate briefing" on the issue.
He submitted 15 questions, including "was this censorship done by automated systems or was it carried manually?"; "How can the American people be confident that a similar issue, whether intentional or not, will not occur again?"; and "What communications did YouTube have with the Biden-Harris Administration regarding Joe Rogan's interview with President Trump in its search results?"
Despite the request for immediate answers, Jordan set November 13 as a hard deadline for the answers to be provided.
It is not the first time Jordan has accused YouTube of engaging in such conduct. Earlier this month he requested answers regarding "documents showing that the federal government successfully pressured YouTube" to "censor certain content, including content that did not violate YouTube's content moderation policies."
"YouTube appears to have censored a video in which FBI whistleblower Marcus Allen, a witness before the Select Subcommittee, detailed serious misconduct at the FBI and expressed his deeply held religious beliefs," Jordan said, calling the alleged conduct part of a "pattern of anti-conservative political bias." The deadline has already passed for the company to provide answers on the matter, it being unclear whether it has done so.
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