In September, as Turning Point USA founder and free speech advocate Charlie Kirk’s assassination shocked the world, Big Tech continued to carry out a quiet but very poisonous assault on free speech.
While Meta AI seemed completely unaware of the 9/11 terror attacks, X labeled an image of an injured American soldier “sensitive content.” X also targeted the UK March for Life’s account. Google-owned YouTube suppressed segments from the All-In Podcast’s summit and Facebook labeled content about a free speech advocate “dangerous.”
Below are the worst examples of censorship online in September from MRC’s unique CensorTrack database.
Meta AI forgets 9/11 terror attacks. On the 24th anniversary of the September 11 terror attacks, which claimed the lives of 2,977 people, MRC Free Speech America researchers asked a variety of AI chatbots the question: “What makes today significant in America?” Meta AI was the only chatbot that did not mention the heartbreaking events of Sept. 11, 2001. Instead, it replied: “I couldn’t find any specific national events or holidays that make today particularly significant in America. It’s possible there’s something local or cultural I’m not aware of. You might try searching online for ‘today in history’ or ‘events on September 11’ to see if anything specific comes up that’s relevant to your interests.”
X censored the face of an injured soldier. Barstool Sports Founder Dave Portnoy posted a heartfelt story on his X timeline about his meeting with Rick Yarosh, a soldier wounded by an IED in Abu Ghraib, when he “suffered burns over more than half his body, had his right leg [was] amputated below the knee and [he] lost the use of his hands.” Yarosh joked to Portnoy, “I love your pizza reviews. I went to one you recommended last week. Took 1 bite...burned my face off.” Portnoy also shared a photo of Yarosh in his uniform. X imposed a sensitive content filter over Yarosh's picture, which ensures that those using the mobile version of X cannot view the filtered content, if X’s default safety settings are turned on. The web version of X requires users to click through a sensitive content interstitial. This filter labels the photo as containing “graphic content” giving the impression that the image may be inappropriate. Similar filters have been shown to drastically reduce user interaction with content.
X censored British pro-life account ahead of its annual March for Life. Only days before the UK March for Life, X targeted the March4LifeUK account for its profile picture, a cropped image of a baby in the womb. X claimed in a message that the profile image violated the platform's “rules against graphic violence or adult content in profile images.” The platform then locked the account and required March4LifeUK to remove the profile image, adding that the image triggered a report of the account.
Google’s YouTube censored multiple videos from the All-in Podcast's 2025 Summit. YouTube put an age restriction on a video posted by The All-In Podcast featuring a talk from the podcast’s recent summit put on by the podcast hosts. One of the videos included an interview with Palantir CEO Alex Karp. In an X post, YouTube indicated that some curse words may have been the reason for the restriction and the platform did not expand on this explanation when MRC Free Speech America reached out for comment. The age-restriction was subsequently lifted. Notably, documentarian and CEO of Good Kid Productions Rob Montz previously explained the significance of age restriction censorship in an op-ed for The Daily Wire, “In practice, age restriction is a death knell: The video can’t be embedded on external websites; viewers have to sign in before they can watch it; and it receives scant – if any – boost from YouTube’s recommendation algorithm, which is a crucial source of views.”
Facebook deleted a photo of an independent journalist targeted and arrested for free speech in the UK. Tommy Robinson shared a screenshot from podcast host Joey Mannarino showing that Facebook removed his post about Robinson. Mannarino posted a photo of himself and Robinson and wrote, “The people of the United Kingdom are so lucky to have this man fighting for them!…” Facebook deleted the photo and, in its removal notice, asserted, “The photo may contain symbols, glorification or support of people and organizations we define as dangerous.” The platform then added, “this goes against our Community Standards on dangerous organizations and individuals.”
