YouTube Censors More Planned Parenthood Criticism

YouTube engages in ideological battle with pro-life group Live Action

September 9th, 2009 | Contact: 323.454.3304, media@liveaction.org

LOS ANGELES,  – The video-sharing website YouTube has blocked a fifth investigative video from the pro-life group Live Action, providing no advance warning, but citing an ambiguous report of “an alleged privacy violation.” Neither has YouTube responded to the group’s initial inquiry about why the first four videos critical of Planned Parenthood were marked as “content inappropriate.”

Asked Wednesday to comment on the censorship of the Live Action videos, Eric Schmidt, CEO of YouTube’s parent company Google, replied, “I don’t know the details, but I’ll certainly look into it.” However, the next day, the fifth video was blocked from the Live Action Films user channel. At the time of this release, no further comment from YouTube or Google has been issued.

“YouTube’s discrimination is outrageous,” said Live Action President and UCLA student Lila Rose. “Rather than respond to our concerns about the censorship, YouTube is confirming its Orwellian conduct and silencing the voices of investigative reporters.” Rose said copies of Live Action’s investigative videos uploaded by another student’s channel had been removed as well.

The videos, viewed over 160,000 times total and the oldest of which has been on the site for over seven months, include phone recordings of Planned Parenthood development workers agreeing to process the donations for abortion of a donor with a racist agenda. The videos received widespread media attention last spring and sparked national outcry from Black pastoral leadership.

“Why are YouTube and Google so hesitant to explain themselves?” asked Rose. “Until they clarify their judgment criteria, their actions will not reflect responsible management, but outright discrimination.”