Rand Paul after getting suspended by 'leftwing cretins' at YouTube: A 'badge of honor'

Last week, YouTube censored a video posted by Sen. Rand Paul for contradicting government guidelines on masks.

On Tuesday, YouTube removed the video and suspended the senator's account for seven days, as reported by The Daily Wire (where you can also watch the banned video).

Paul told Liberty Tree that he considered being banned by YouTube a "badge of honor" and scorned the "leftwing cretins at Youtube banning me for seven days for a video that quotes two peer reviewed articles saying cloth masks don’t work."

Paul said in a video in which he responded to YouTube's actions, “Censorship by YouTube is very dangerous as it stifles debate and promotes groupthink where the ‘truth’ is defined by people with a political agenda."

Titled “It Is Time For Unfiltered News,” that video was also removed by YouTube. You can still watch it on Paul's Rumble channel.

‘I’m Not Sure When YouTube Became An Arm Of The Government’: Rand Paul Slaps Back After YouTube Suspension https://t.co/VPlmjrQSmB pic.twitter.com/X1GJ2YJy3S

— The Daily Wire (@realDailyWire) August 10, 2021

Google said it removed the content because “This video has been removed for violating YouTube’s Community Guidelines."

Paul said in response, which is no longer on YouTube, “YouTube said the video violated their policy because of my comments on masks, and that they don’t allow videos that contradict government’s guidance on COVID."

Sen. Paul expressed concern that Big Tech companies are behaving like the government during a press call on Tuesday.

“I’m not sure when YouTube became an arm of the government, and I’m not really sure it’s good for journalism to also be an arm of the government without any repercussions or push back, Paul said.

Paul said that private companies have the right to host content or not as they please, Big Tech's lack of interest in free speech is concerning.

“As a libertarian-leaning Senator, I think private companies have the right to ban me if they want to, but I think it is really anti-free speech, anti-progress of science, which involves skepticism and argumentation to arrive at the truth,” Paul said.

He continued, “We realize this in our court systems that both sides present facts on either side of a question and complete an adversarial process to reach the truth in each case.”

The senator said such decisions being made by Big Tech companies could also affect the quality of journalism.

“Journalism isn’t far from that and in some ways, the adversarial part of the courtroom is ideally what you would find in journalism, where both sides would present facts, there is a period of argumentation and people figure out the truth for themselves,” Paul explained.

Paul added, “YouTube and Google though, have become an entity so huge that they think they are the arbitrator of truth.”

Sen. Paul also urged seeking other alternative platforms, “I will try to channel my anger, not in breaking these companies up but by publicly expressing my disagreement with them and publicly promoting other channels that offer free speech alternatives."