Last week, Right Wing Watch was informed that YouTube had terminated our account due to what it said were repeated violations of the platform’s community guidelines against hate speech and disinformation, stemming from our coverage of the bigoted views and outrageous conspiracy theories promoted by the right-wing activists we monitor.
We appealed YouTube’s decision, explaining the mission of our organization—to shine a bright light on purveyors of hate and disinformation—and the role that posting such videos plays in our efforts to combat the bigotry and disinformation espoused by the right. When YouTube rejected our appeal, Right Wing Watch announced that our account had been terminated, which generated not only a wave of press coverage about the loss of our channel but also a tsunami of rejoicing and mockery from right-wing activists.
The right’s glee, alas, was short-lived, as YouTube eventually reversed its decision amid the wave of bad press and reinstated our channel, which makes the gloating over our supposed demise with which End Times conspiracy theorist Rick Wiles kicked off his “TruNews” program Monday night now appear rather foolish.
“I suspect that there will be layoffs very soon inside the organization because there’s no platform for them to spew their lies and propaganda,” Wiles declared, clearly unaware that YouTube is just one of several social media platforms Right Wing Watch uses to share our content. “So their writers, their editors, all the people that they had working to smear us and other ministries, what are they gonna do? I suspect they’re gonna lose their jobs this week.”
“Let me make this very clear today: Jesus Christ shut down Right Wing Watch,” Wiles celebrated. “Not YouTube. Jesus Christ shut down Right Wing Watch today. This is an example of God working through unsaved people at YouTube to carry out his vengeance against those who attack and smear his servants. So I didn’t have to lift a finger against Right Wing Watch. I think they’ll disappear in the coming weeks and months. There’s no purpose for them now.”
While we normally use the video hosting platform Vimeo for embedding videos on our website, in this case, it seems fitting to use our newly restored YouTube channel to host this clip of Wiles prematurely celebrating the demise of Right Wing Watch.
