The Internet comedy group We The Internet has had a YouTube ad for an interview with Dr. Deborah Soh banned. In the video that the banned ad promotes, called “Sex, Gender and Bullsh-t, Part 1,” WTI’s head writer, Lou Perez, interviews Soh about the transgender movement. It can be viewed below.
In an email to WTI obtained by The Federalist, Google says it suspended the ad due to “dangerous or derogatory content.”
The interview, part of a broader series, is mostly about Soh defending former Google employee James Damore for his memo suggesting that Google was pursuing gender diversity in the wrong way. He argued that the gap between the sexes’ employment in tech might be owing to natural differences between men and women rather than institutional bias.
Soh defends this position, which is apparently enough to be considered “dangerous and derogatory.” She took to Twitter to defend herself.
https://twitter.com/DrDebraSoh/status/1053442054431346688
Soh, who holds a PhD from York University, has also been a critic of the transgender movement’s claims that there is no scientific, biological difference between men and women. In the video she suggests that prenatal levels of testosterone predict interest in STEM subjects, which essentially backs up Damore’s claims in his memo. One is hard-pressed to find anything even slightly derogatory in the satirical conversation, in which Perez plays the comedian.
WTI more generally has run videos critical of PC culture. In this recent sketch, they poke fun at the advent of dozens of new pronouns for non-binary people through the lens of an English as Second Language class.
They also recently ran a video satirically suggesting that progressives and their unfounded claims are making people defend Donald Trump who really don’t want to.
Meanwhile, they have run videos critical of the Trump administration, such as this one, which portrays a support group for former members of the Trump administration.
The point here is that WTI gives it to both sides, but only finds itself facing an ad ban when it offends the sensibilities of progressives. Google’s willingness to succumb to this pressure is yet another in a long list of signs that tech companies are far more averse to content in line with the right than content in line with the left. Testimony before Congress this year from Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook and Jack Dorsey of Twitter laid bare this fact.
This is a real problem. There is nothing even remotely offensive about the ad that was blocked or the content that is advertised. Google is bowing to progressive pressure to shut down thought that progressives find problematic. It is not clear if this decision was made by an individual or an algorithm, but either way it is absurd and wrong-minded.
WTI occupies a rare and essential space of comedians who are willing to challenge progressive mores and shine a light on them. This, it appears, can no longer be allowed. Progressive ideas must not be questioned. They are apparently not opinions, but facts that must not be questioned. According to Google, to question these assertions is derogatory.
As a private company, Google is free to set its own standards, but in this case their standard is absurd. There is nothing to object to in the video being advertised, certainly nothing to warrant banning ads for it. This leftist bullying is an increasing problem for those who wish to look at both sides openly and honestly.
We should hope that Google will reverse this decision and let WTI’s good and truly funny work thrive without corporate, politically correct intervention. Those who believe in free speech and the open exchange of ideas should be shocked and appalled by Google’s actions here.
We rely on companies like Google, Facebook, and Twitter to be honest players when using their power to downgrade how much promotion a video or article can have. This banned ad is yet another sign to conservatives that this is not being done in good faith.
My advice? Don’t look to these tech giants to determine what is and isn’t acceptable for you. Go subscribe to We the Internet and let yourself enjoy comedy that doesn’t hew to scolds’ politically correct demands. You will probably learn some things, and you will definitely send the message that you don’t want your content curated by forces dominated by leftist philosophy.