CENSORED! YouTube Terminates Trauma Treatment Channel, Deems It ‘Conversion Therapy’
YouTube “terminated” the Reintegrative Therapy Association’s channel for alleged “hate speech,” accusing the group of pushing “conversion therapy.”
The Reintegrative Therapy Association (RTA) specializes in “established, evidence-based treatment interventions … to treat trauma and addiction.” Joseph Nicolosi, Jr., a licensed clinical psychologist and founder of the RTA, told MRC Free Speech America that YouTube banned RTA’s channel overnight. "Our channel went from 0 strikes against us — and having tens of thousands of views — to permanent suspension for all videos indefinitely, overnight," Nicolosi explained. "Our video content ranged from client testimonials to research explainers. None of that mattered."
Jack Malon, a YouTube spokesperson told Free Speech America why the platform removed the channel. “We enforce our policies equally for everyone and terminate channels dedicated to violating our policies,” he said. “This includes our Hate Speech policy, which prohibits content promoting conversion therapy, and we’ve terminated the channel Reintegrative Therapy accordingly.”
YouTube‘s so-called “hate speech” policy forbids “content promoting violence or hatred against individuals or groups ...” based on certain attributes including sexual orientation. It is unclear how RTA’s content would have violated the policy.
RTA explicitly distinguishes reintegrative therapy, which it said, “seeks to identify and resolve past traumatic memories,” and “conversion therapy” in which “[s]exual orientation change is the goal.” However, it acknowledges that a “client's sexuality can sometimes change on its own.” The organization also clarifies that it uses “the same approach, regardless of the client's sexual orientation or gender”
YouTube’s block of the RTA channel came after a recent report by the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism (GPAHE), which conflated reintegrative therapy and conversion therapy and put pressure on Big Tech companies to remove accounts like the RTA YouTube channel. “The tech companies must take appropriate steps to protect their users, especially teenagers and young people, from health disinformation, hate speech, and conspiracy theories, as they have pledged to do,” GPAHE complained in its report summary. The organization also said that it “sent the report to all of the tech companies and will follow up with each company over the coming months.”
Nicolosi, however, told MRC Free Speech America that Big Tech censorship and organizations like GPAHE ultimately hurt those in need of real help. “Everyone should be free to find therapy and support to help them achieve their desired goals and outcomes. Not Big Tech, or any political organization. Clients should be in the driver’s seat of their therapy,” he said. “Ultimately, it’s the public who suffers— it’s the sex-abuse victims, seeking out alternative therapy options, for example. We can’t be educated on any topic if we only have access to one point of view. Our clients —and the general public— deserve better.”
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