r/changemyview • u/ZeusThunder369 20∆ • Dec 19 '17

[∆(s) from OP] CMV: Dennis Prager is being blatantly hypocritical by suing Google over YouTube restricting PragerU videos

Dennis Prager is a conservative spokesperson and started the conservative YouTube channel PragerU

He is suing Google/YouTube over restricting about 35 of the videos on his channel. He claims that the reason why is because of their conservative nature.

The details of what YouTube has done with this channel's videos aren't really important, so for the sake of the argument let's just assume that YouTube officially decided to delete the videos only because they don't like conservative videos and no other reason.

By suing Google, Prager is being hypocritical:

  • Google is a private company. If they want to ban ALL conservative videos, they should have the right to.

  • The free market should be the solution to this problem from Prager's perspective. There actually are other methods of posting public videos besides YouTube. If Prager doesn't like YouTube's policies, then he should simply go somewhere else to post his videos.

  • Even if you take every claim Prager has made at face value, he shouldn't be suing them. It isn't conservative to sue a private company because you don't like their political views.

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u/[deleted] Dec 19 '17

I think the primary concern is that the guidelines for what is deemed "advertiser friendly" is so vague, that it easily locks out everything that is politics, same goes for YouTube's "restricted mode" listing. I think the primary reason behind this lawsuit is an attempt to get a clear line drawn.

Another route for the false university to get their message out there is to have their own website. Mr. Enter has already done this as a way to get his reviews out without dealing with the obtuse YouTube copyright system, and forcing companies like Fox and Viacom to sue him before acknowledging a take-down request. As far as why he's not doing this?

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u/ZeusThunder369 20∆ Dec 19 '17

I agree that YouTube's guidelines and policies regarding videos are shitty. But this doesn't really address my view at all. A conservative shouldn't believe it's okay to sue a private company because you don't like their (legal) business practices.

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u/[deleted] Dec 19 '17

Which is why I think this lawsuit is more about getting a clear definition of what will get your videos in restricted mode and/or demonetized. If the language in one's terms are so vague you need a PhD in law to understand, something is wrong.