YouTube removed an advertisement by the Republican Governors Association (RGA) criticizing Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear of Kentucky over his support for child sex changes before reinstating the ad on Monday, according to a spokesperson for the group.
The advertisement, Sick but True, criticizes Beshear — a candidate for re-election against Republican Attorney General Daniel Cameron — for his support for surgical procedures on minors to alter their sexual characteristics, which has been highly criticized by conservative groups. The video was removed by YouTube on Sunday, before being re-instated following a review and protest from the (RGA), which created the video, on Monday.
“The radical transgender agenda. It’s bombarding our children everywhere we turn, and Andy Beshear is bringing it home to Kentucky. Beshear supports allowing young children to undergo permanent gender-changing surgery [and] vetoed a bill to ban doctors from performing sex-change surgery, even chemical castration on underage kids” the video’s narration states. “It’s sick but true.”
YouTube removed the ad on Sunday, allegedly claiming it violated their rules regarding “hate speech,” according to the Lexington Herald-Leader, a Kentucky-based newspaper. It was later re-instated on Monday, according to the RGA, and was accessible by the Daily Caller News Foundation.
“The ad is 100% factually accurate,” wrote Courtney Alexander, the RGA’s National Press Secretary, in an email to the DCNF. “Considering Beshear tried to spin the truth, going so far as to fundraise off of YouTube’s temporary review, Beshear should have to respond about Youtube’s decision to put the video back up, and explain why he wants it to be legal for young children to undergo permanent gender-changing surgery.”
“We consider content hate speech when it incites hatred or violence against groups based on protected attributes such as age, gender, race, caste, religion, sexual orientation, or veteran status. This policy also includes common forms of online hate such as dehumanizing members of these groups,” YouTube’s Hate Speech policy reads. Transgender activists have often responded to conservative criticism by terming it “dehumanizing,” according to GLAAD, a left-wing LGBTQ+ advocacy group.
It is unclear what prompted the removal on hate speech grounds. YouTube’s policy allows users to report videos to the company for review, while it also deploys “machine learning to proactively detect potentially hateful content to send for human review.”
Big technology companies have been criticized by conservatives for alleged censorship of right-wing free speech, allegedly at the behest of left-wing employees who internally pressure executives to act in line with their values.
Beshear, for his part, has denied supporting sex-change surgeries for minors.
“Andy Beshear has always opposed gender-reassignment surgeries for minors — which do not happen in Kentucky,” wrote a Beshear campaign spokesperson in comments to the Herald-Leader.
Beshear will face Cameron on Nov. 7 in the general election.
The Google Press Team, listed as the press contact for YouTube, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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