The Conservative's David Davis fell foul of big tech censors last week after YouTube deleted a video in which he deplored the introduction of domestic vaccine passports. The eleven minute speech was uploaded by libertarian group Big Brother Watch, but subsequently deleted. In a notification to the group YouTube said: "YouTube doesn’t allow claims about Covid-19 vaccinations that contradict expert consensus from local health authorities or the World Health Organisation (WHO)".
The problem with that statement is that nowhere in the speech does Davis make any claims about vaccines that would counter the establishment narrative, in fact he dramatically overstates their efficacy and says he is an advocate. However, as a libertarian he quite rightly finds the concept of domestic vaccine passports a very sinister attempt to coerce people into taking jabs they might not want. Davis's speech was given at a fringe event of the recent Conservative party conference, which he noted did not require vaccine passports for entry (unlike the Labour party conference). He also noted that Tory ministers had confided in him that they did not believe in vaccine passports either, which rather begs the question who is the driving force behind their implementation?
Reacting to YouTube's censorship of his speech, Davis said: "Throughout the pandemic, we have seen blatant attempts by big tech to silence opposition voices challenging the conventional wisdom. My speech at conference was carefully researched, wholly accurate and backed up with the latest scientific fact. This unambiguous attempt by YouTube to censor my speech is a warning. If YouTube is happy to attempt to silence elected Members of Parliament, then they are also happy to censor anyone uploading content to their speech".
Quite right, and it was the MP's public response and resulting publicity that resulted in YouTube reinstating the video on Friday, saying: "Sometimes we make the wrong call". Others who speak out against Covid tyranny, but who are not public figures will probably not be so fortunate.
His speech, as it appears on YouTube, can be seen below.
