The Free Press Society has been censored yet again. This time it was one of our videos on YouTube. This in itself no great news: it is now such a commonplace occurrence for so many to be censored or blocked on social media, that most have almost gotten used to the tech giants' often heavy handed and arbitrary verdicts about people’s statements and opinions.
But we must NOT get used to it. It is absolutely crucial that we, in order to preserve our freedoms, freedom of speech in particular, protest loudly and continue to expose the state-like power the tech giants have gained over our freedom of speech.
Therefore, dear reader, you should know that YouTube has removed one of the Free Press Society's videos. We have not received a specific justification, but YouTube has referred to their "policy", which states:
"Content glorifying or inciting violence against another person or group of people is not allowed on YouTube. We also don't allow any content that encourages hatred of another person or group of people based on their membership in a protected group."
So what was in this video? It was titled "The Free Press Society in Whitechapel, London" and it was recorded in May 2018 in connection with the Free Press Society visiting London to participate in the "Day for Freedom" demonstration. Here we also visited Whitechapel in London's East End, which in a few decades has been completely taken over by immigrants from the Middle East. So much so, that it is almost impossible to find a native Briton in the area. It is also an area that sports Europe's highest concentration of niqabs, and which also houses Europe's largest mosque, which can serve up to 3,000 Muslims at a time. To describe Whitechapel as multicultural is a flat out lie: it has to be one of the most mono-cultural areas of London - it's just not Western, British culture.
You would be able to see this for yourself should you take a walk down Whitechapel Road - and that's exactly what we did with our camera. A short 2-3 minute video was the result of our walk down the street where we objectively describe what we observe. We did not speak rail against any of the people or groups we passed, we did not insult anyone and we neither encouraged nor glorified violence in any guise (nothing could further from our intent) – we simply filmed a walk down Whitechapel Road and commented the development the area has undergone.
According to YouTube, this is not allowed. It is a violation of their "policy" - and one can only guess why, because they have not given us a concrete explanation. However, it is my clear view that it is forbidden to show and comment on the rampant population change taking place in England these years. In any case, I think it’s safe to say that had we instead filmed a walk down busy Piccadilly and into Fortnum and Mason to buy tea, YouTube would not have removed the video.
Soon, it will be social media and social media alone that, despite the Constitution, defines what is desired and what is undesired attitudes/content and utterances based on their unpredictable and often secret criteria. There are no legislators or practitioners who have yet seriously challenged their power. Therefore, we must keep protesting loudly when the tech giants violate our constitutional right to speak out without being censored. If we do not, we will gradually get used to it and accept that the framework for the normal, the permissible, becomes ever smaller – and by then it will be too late.
