YouTube CAUGHT Red-Handed in Blatant Hypocrisy on DeSantis Masks-Optional Video

Joseph Vazquez March 3rd, 2022

The YouTube oligarchs on Mount Censorlympus targeted one of its popular users An0maly for daring to post a clip of comments on masking by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R).  

The video that sent the YouTube censors off showed DeSantis telling Middleton High School students at the University of South Florida: “You do not have to wear those masks.” An0maly, who has over 259,000 subscribers, suggested that either the war in Ukraine or terrible midterm polling numbers were causing Democrats to change their collective tune on COVID-19 and ease restrictions:

"[N]ow that they’re easing off of restrictions, I think it’s really nice of Ron DeSantis to be like, ‘You don’t have to do this.’ Because it’s not like kids are doing this normally, like, ‘Oh, I just thought to do this.’ They were forced to do it, mandated to do it and told they’d be kicked out of school if they didn’t do it for years."

An0maly excoriated the platform on Twitter for the censorship. “I just got my channel suspended by @TeamYouTube for sharing the viral clip of Ron DeSantis telling kids the masks are optional,” he tweeted. “We are not allowed to show video footage of American politicians in this ‘free country’? CORRECT THIS YOU ABSOLUTE AUTHORITARIAN PSYCHOPATHS.” 

YouTube initially apologized for so-called “confusion” and suggested An0maly appeal the decision, and snapshots reflect that he did: “I appealed the strike & you haven’t responded yet. Reverse it & stop screwing over my channel.” Snapshots indicated that the appeal was rejected.

But YouTube is being blatantly hypocritical. Leftist super PAC MeidasTouch, which has targeted people like podcaster Joe Rogan, posted a clip of the same segment of DeSantis telling students they didn’t have to wear masks as An0maly did. Of course, the group posted the video with a completely different take attacking DeSantis. MeidasTouch said in a tweet that its video headlined, “Ron DeSantis bullies children for wearing masks,” initially led to it being suspended. However, after MeidasTouch complained on Twitter, YouTube apologized and reinstated MeidasTouch’s account: “Confirming this was a mistake – we’ve reinstated your video and removed the strike on your channel. We’re really sorry this happened!” 

Meanwhile, An0maly tore YouTube apart for prohibiting people from sharing comments of elected leaders. An0maly pointed out that multiple YouTube users posted the same video of DeSantis’s comments to students and remained uncensored. Apparently, you just need the correct left-wing politics to bypass YouTube’s censorship.

An MRC Free Speech America study found that Big Tech platforms censored speech on COVID-19 they didn’t like over 800 times, and the victims included licensed doctors. YouTube, for example, nuked an interview in December 2021 between podcaster Joe Rogan and cardiologist Dr. Peter McCullough about the COVID-19 pandemic.

UPDATE: YouTube records suggest that An0maly's video "Ron DeSantis Goes VIRAL For Telling Kids That Masks Are Optional At Press Conference" has since been restored on the platform following the controversy.