Google Defeats Lawsuit Claiming YouTube Censors Conservatives

Google has won the dismissal of a lawsuit in California which
accused YouTube of censoring conservative content.

U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh said a non-profit run by
conservative radio talk show host, Dennis Prager, failed to show
that YouTube infringed its free speech rights by placing age
restrictions on its content.

The plaintiff, Prager University, said YouTube’s “animus’’
toward its “political identity and viewpoint’’ led it to curb
access to videos on topics.

It identified the topics to include; abortion, gun rights, Islam
and terrorism, despite YouTube’s stated promise of neutrality.

But the judge said Google and YouTube, both units of Mountain
View, aCalifornia-based Alphabet Inc, did not qualify as
“state actors’’ subject to the First Amendment by creating a
“public forum’’ for speech.

“Defendants are private entities who created their own
video-sharing social media website and make decisions about whether
and how to regulate content that has been
uploaded on that website.

“Plaintiff has not shown that defendants have engaged in one of
the very few public functions that were traditionally exclusively
reserved to the state,’’ Koh said.

The San Jose, California-based judge also dismissed a
claim that YouTube engaged in false advertising by implying that
Prager’s videos.

The judge said the claim was “inappropriate’’ and dismissed
various law claims.

In court papers, Google acknowledged that deciding which videos
to restrict “may involve difficult subjective judgment calls.’’

But it maintained that it should not be held liable for trying
to keep YouTube “safe and enjoyable for all users.’’

Google drew attention in August 2017 when it fired an Engr,
James Damore, who wrote an internal memo saying that biological
differences led to fewer women in various technology jobs.

Damore sued Google in January, saying it was biased against
white men with conservative views.

Google has won the dismissal of a lawsuit in California which
accused YouTube of censoring conservative content.

U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh said a non-profit run by
conservative radio talk show host, Dennis Prager, failed to show
that YouTube infringed its free speech rights by placing age
restrictions on its content.

The plaintiff, Prager University, said YouTube’s “animus’’
toward its “political identity and viewpoint’’ led it to curb
access to videos on topics.

It identified the topics to include; abortion, gun rights, Islam
and terrorism, despite YouTube’s stated promise of neutrality.

But the judge said Google and YouTube, both units of Mountain
View, aCalifornia-based Alphabet Inc, did not qualify as
“state actors’’ subject to the First Amendment by creating a
“public forum’’ for speech.

“Defendants are private entities who created their own
video-sharing social media website and make decisions about whether
and how to regulate content that has been
uploaded on that website.

“Plaintiff has not shown that defendants have engaged in one of
the very few public functions that were traditionally exclusively
reserved to the state,’’ Koh said.

The San Jose, California-based judge also dismissed a
claim that YouTube engaged in false advertising by implying that
Prager’s videos.

The judge said the claim was “inappropriate’’ and dismissed
various law claims.

In court papers, Google acknowledged that deciding which videos
to restrict “may involve difficult subjective judgment calls.’’

But it maintained that it should not be held liable for trying
to keep YouTube “safe and enjoyable for all users.’’

Google drew attention in August 2017 when it fired an Engr,
James Damore, who wrote an internal memo saying that biological
differences led to fewer women in various technology jobs.

Damore sued Google in January, saying it was biased against
white men with conservative views.