Thank you @JosephWulfsohn / @FoxNews for writing about @TeamYouTube's erroneous deletion of my historical footage from Jan 6, as well as the demonetization of my entire account.

foxnews.com/media/youtube-…
"YouTube used to be for independent content creators primarily, right? It used to be about democratizing, everybody has a voice. Like, that was the idea of YouTube. That's what I love about YouTube. That's why I like it still, at least for that principle," Fischer tells Fox News.
"But I think that the fact that major news outlets can live stream the same things that I filmed and mine gets deleted and theirs gets ads put on it -- well, I think it indicates to me ... YouTube is serving corporations rather than small businesses and individual users."
As I pointed out to @FoxNews and am grateful they included, this sort of censorship has no political bounds.

@StatusCoup and @theconvocouch both met the same fate as my channel yesterday.

@TeamYouTube is cracking down on progressives.

foxnews.com/media/youtube-…
"When asked about potential solutions to social media censorship, News2Share's Fischer expresses skepticism that government is the answer."

foxnews.com/media/youtube-…
"The clear goal is to disempower alternative media," @mtaibbi says. "The end game here is to force all content to be sifted through the filter of larger outlets."

foxnews.com/media/youtube-…
I want @TeamYouTube to know something here: I am not an activist, but I've spent years covering activism.

If there's one thing I've learned, it's how people can use their voices and create coalitions to create accountability.

I will keep speaking out.
So far, Youtube offered a five-word response.

"A spokesperson for Google, YouTube's parent company, told Fox News "we will take a look" in response to several inquiries about YouTube's recent actions against these independent journalists. "

foxnews.com/media/youtube-…

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More from @FordFischer

5 Feb
Thank you @TeamYouTube for remonetizing my channel!

It is funny how it notifies me as if I'm new.

This is a step.

Could you a) Restore my historical footage of January 6?

b) Review other video takedowns and demonetizations, such as @StatusCoup, @theconvocouch, and more? ImageImage
I am grateful to advocates like @mtaibbi who clearly got the attention of YouTube fast, my supportive Twitter following and the journalists at Fox and Forbes who wrote about this.

Clearly, YouTube (partially, for now) responded under pressure.
But this is the issue: Most independent content creators don't have a following or the attention of the media that I do.

And those content creators deserve their moderation decisions to be reviewed by accountable humans as well.

I will continue speaking up for them.
Read 4 tweets
4 Feb
THREAD: I managed to get on the phone just now with "boogaloo boy" Mike Dunn, who was apparently arrested last night according to a tweet on his account shortly before it went down.

For context: I've covered Mike's activism a lot and he is a subject of a documentary on the way.
Dunn told me by phone that he had been doing firearms training with a man in Maine who he realized in the process was a "Nazi" under the influence of drugs.

Dunn says their disagreements boiled over when he realized this person could be dangerous and wanted by authorities.
He describes fearing that this person would "violate the non-aggression principle against innocents" (a libertarian principle against initiating violence), taking his guns away, and driving to a police station with them to turn himself and the weapons in.
Read 7 tweets
4 Feb
“YouTube also took down a video from independent journalist Ford Fischer, who uploaded footage from former President Donald Trump’s speech and the crowd’s reaction before rioters stormed the Capitol—a key moment in the impeachment complaint against Trump.”
forbes.com/sites/rachelsa…
“The company said Fischer’s videos don’t “include countervailing views or sufficient context of the claims made in the footage” and then demonized his entire account.

YouTube did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Forbes.”

forbes.com/sites/rachelsa…
“Fischer said his video, which showed the crowd chanting “fight for Trump” before the attack, is crucial for the public to see because Trump will stand trial in the Senate over whether he incited the riot.”

forbes.com/sites/rachelsa…
Read 5 tweets
3 Feb
BREAKING: After me spending the last week criticizing @TeamYouTube's takedown of my raw footage from January 6, they have just demonetized my ENTIRE CHANNEL.

They say I produce "Content that focuses on controversial issues and that is harmful to viewers"

youtube.com/channel/UCbBm6…
I spent the last week trying to get a reply from @TeamYouTube as to why they would ban raw footage of the most historic day of Trump's presidency.

When they finally replied, I earnestly tried to ask what I could do to resolve the issue.

This happened two years ago as well.

Last time they demonetized my channel, it took SEVEN MONTHS of advocating including stories in @Forbes, @ABC, @arstechnica, @RollingStone and several others for them to fix it.

Read 8 tweets
3 Feb
YouTube is saying my uncut footage showing the crowd reacting and chanting (for example) “fight for Trump” during his J6 speech ahead of the insurgency was removed for not presenting a counter-view to the president.
They add that other videos have “sufficient context or countervailing views.”

This is actually not true, but ok. I want to fix this, not fight.

@TeamYouTube, would you allow me to upload into same URL if I add an in-video disclaimer like the ones you put under election content?
I'm fully serious @TeamYouTube.

If this is really the issue, may we either:

1) disable embedding

2) Let me re-upload the video with the warning you put on the videos straight in the video. It would look like this the whole time.

Read 5 tweets
1 Feb
THREAD: @TeamYouTube deleted historical documentary footage detailing an aspect of the events that transpired on January 6, which is clearly evidence in President Trump's upcoming trial.

Today, I've sent the footage to the Impeachment Managers and President Trump's attorneys.
The footage, which I originally posted here, shows the crowd's reaction during President Trump's speech ahead of the Capitol Insurrection.

@TeamYouTube deleted it weeks later, within 24 hours of the delivery of articles of impeachment to the senate.

The Articles of Impeachment themselves reference moments I also captured and pointed out in my original upload.

@TeamYouTube apparently believes the American people don't deserve to see how the audience responded when he said those historic lines.

Read 8 tweets

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