Comedian Stephen Crowder claimed that YouTube tried to suppress Democratic Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard’s videos following her feud with former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
Crowder tweeted a video showing two separate YouTube searches for content related to Gabbard, whom Clinton called “a Russian asset.”
The first attempt was a standard search on Oct. 18 using an American device, which yielded several videos related to Clinton’s claim that Gabbard was being “groomed” by Russian President Vladimir Putin, but none of the campaign’s videos.
The second search was conducted using a VPN which made the search appear as though it were being conducted in Spain. The search results for Spain offered completely different results. Instead, the search showed Gabbard’s own content along with other videos.
YouTube search results on Friday, October 18 for “Tulsi Gabbard” first set to US results, then Spain via VPN. #CrowderExposesYouTube #YouTube2020ElectionBlackList pic.twitter.com/Qtt7BhBipu
— Steven Crowder (@scrowder) October 22, 2019
Crowder ran his test again on Oct. 20 using the same search method after the Clinton controversy had died down. This time, the search results for the two countries aligned to include Gabbard’s videos.
YouTube search results on Sunday, October 20th for “Tulsi Gabbard” first set to US results, then Spain via VPN. #CrowderExposesYouTube #YouTube2020ElectionBlacklist pic.twitter.com/ZZXwFoeEMF
— Steven Crowder (@scrowder) October 22, 2019
Crowder alleged that YouTube was intentionally suppressing other content about Gabbard during her spat with Clinton to influence the 2020 election.
ATTENTION: We’re cancelling tonight’s scheduled show and STREAMING LIVE at 2PM CT for a BREAKING EXCLUSIVE on YouTube’s election meddling!
This time, it’s not about me.#YouTube2020ElectionBlacklist
— Steven Crowder (@scrowder) October 22, 2019
Gabbard already has an outstanding lawsuit with Google, the parent company of YouTube. In that lawsuit, the congresswoman claimed Google intentionally blocked her campaign advertisements following a presidential debate where she was the most-searched candidate.
Google denied wrongdoing, instead claiming that the campaign’s account had been blocked for providing incomplete data and was quickly reinstated.
Crowder also had a history with YouTube. The comedian’s account was demonetized after Vox reporter Carlos Maza compiled content from Crowder that YouTube deemed “hateful.”
Neither YouTube nor Gabbard immediately responded to a request for comment regarding Crowder’s claims.
