YouTube Removes Jan. 6 Committee Clip: Not ‘Sufficient Context’

YouTube has shown time and time again that it won’t allow users to post about Jan. 6 or the 2020 election unless they outright deny claims of potential fraud or vote-counting errors. The Congressional Jan 6 Committee isn’t an exception.

Short clips were shown by the committee from witness testimony during the continuing hearings. 

The New York TimesYouTube has removed footage of Donald Trump claiming widespread voter fraud, according to reports. The committee included the clip alongside part of former Attorney General Bill Barr’s testimony. 

Ivy Choi, YouTube spokesperson, confirmed that the censorship was in place and told MRC Free Speech America. “We enforce our policies equally for everyone, and have removed the video uploaded by the January 6th Committee channel.” The censored video has since been made private. 

According to The Times, the Jan. 6 committee’s clip showed Trump on Fox Business talking about voter fraud. “We had glitches where they moved thousands of votes from my account to Biden’s account,” Trump said. “They’re not glitches. They’re theft. They are fraud and absolute fraud. This election was over, and then they did dumps; they call them dumps, big massive dumps; in Michigan and Pennsylvania and all over.” 

The full hearing footage showed that Barr denied Trump’s voter fraud claims multiple times. But apparently, the censored clip included none of his denials, and YouTube claimed it violated the platform’s election integrity policy. 

YouTube told MRC Free Speech America that its “election integrity policy prohibits content advancing false claims that widespread fraud, errors or glitches changed the outcome of the 2020 U.S. presidential election If it doesn’t provide enough context.” 

The policy describes context as providing “countervailing views,” or clearly showing that the content is meant to “condemn, dispute or satirize” voter fraud claims. 

YouTube allows you to upload clips that depict Trump and others suggesting foul play during the 2020 election, but only if they condemn, dispute, or demolish the claims. This includes news interviews and even the Congressional January 6 Committee’s videos.

MRC CensorTrack identified four YouTube news clips that were removed due to similar reasons.

• YouTube has removed the a New York PostThe Justice Department used the interview.An alleged owner of a channel New York PostA journalist uploaded a video from its interview with Aaron Mostofsky (January 6th rioter), according to the New York Post. The New York Post reported that the video was “one of the only professional interviews conducted with a rioter inside the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021,” and that the interview “was cited by many news outlets and the Justice Department used it to help prosecute Mostofsky.” Choi stated to MRC CensorTrack, that the video was removed because Mostofsky made comments regarding the 2020 election.

• YouTube suspends The Hill for reporting Trump’s comments.Robby Soave (co-host of The HillReporting on’s Show “Rising,” ReasonYouTube has been suspended The Hill‘s channel for videos showing Trump’s claims of voter fraud. Soave said that one video showed “raw footage” of Trump’s speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference Feb. 26. A second video showed Fox News interview with Trump and  Laura Ingraham. Choi told MRC CensorTrack it was suspended The Hill’s account due to election integrity policies. 

• YouTube has deleted the interview by Right Side Broadcasting Network with Trump. YouTube removed Right Side Broadcasting Network (RSBN’s) interview with Trump because it was alleged that they were violating their “Community Guidelines”. Trump refers to the 2020 election as “rigged” in one clip. A press release from the RSBN states that Trump called 2020’s election “rigged.”  YouTube claimed that YouTube’s video was “elections-misinformation.”

Conservatives under attack Contact YouTube at 650-253-0000 and demand that Big Tech be held to account to mirror the First Amendment while providing transparency, clarity on “hate speech” and equal footing for conservatives. If you have been censored, contact us using CensorTrack’sUse the contact formHelp us to hold Big Tech responsible.