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Is Google's change of heart real, or just lip service? The Biden administration pressured YouTube, but now Google faces new pressures from AI competition and EU regulations. The fight for online freedom never ends. #Google #censorship #freedom #YouTube #Biden
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here to debunk whether or not this is a
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big nothing burger. Is this lip service?
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Or is this actually a big deal?
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She wants me back now. Ah, that's uh
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Well, maybe I'm seeing someone else now.
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Uh it's No, this is obviously
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it's very funny, right? It's like, you
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know, as soon as the movement becomes
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too big to ignore and it's famous now
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and it's the president now, it's like,
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you know, they just come crawling back.
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But,
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uh, essentially, you know, what what's
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happening here is in acknowledgment of
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the obvious. Obviously, the Biden
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administration pressured the ever loving
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heck out of YouTube. It was in the
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YouTube files. Jim Jordan subpoenaed
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these in March 2024. I have owe
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effectively my whole career to the thing
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that Google just acknowledged. I was
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doing tours around the country in 2018
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telling people about the government
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pressure on YouTube. This is before the
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Biden administration. This was when
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Congress was doing it and when,
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unbeknownst to the Trump administration,
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they were doing out grants through
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USAID, through partnerships with the
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Department of Homeland Security, through
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SISA, through the Pentagon, through the
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State Department, just like the FBI was
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taking actions that were unbeknownst to
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the Trump administration. So was their
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own national security state against you,
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against Google. And Google is a
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government creation from from Jump
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Street. And Google started off as a
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DARPA grant to Larry Page and Sergey
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Brin, the massive digital data systems
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project that was a joint CIA NSA program
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that Google Technology was built on in
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1996.
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So anyway, the the point is what's
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happening here with Google is they are
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in a bidding war with other major tech
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companies around things like AI, around
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things like regulatory protection from
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international laws like what the EU
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digital services act and if Google does
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not bend the knee at this point they
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will become uncompetitive. The same
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levers that were used for censorship can
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be used for freedom. This is what the
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Biden administration did. I remember
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vividly it the the week after the 2020
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election when SISA's little zombie
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cutout group, the Election Integrity
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Partnership, jumped on a Zoom call and
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bragged about how YouTube cracked under
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what they called huge regulatory stakes
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of the election if they didn't censor
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content
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that this should be against content
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moderation policies on these platforms
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and they began to take proactive steps
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there. We did get industry partners to
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push the envelope a little bit in the US
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context. But how can a similar kind of
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pressure and responsiveness be elicited
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from platforms when it's not a US
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election with huge regulatory stakes for
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these companies
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on effectively pushing the platforms to
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do stuff. So yes, there's a basic
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problem that they will always be more
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responsive in the places that are both
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economically highly important and that
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have huge potential regulatory impact.
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Most notably right now, that would be
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the United States and Europe.
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And now Google is under the gun of
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billions of dollars of fees and fines
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from the EU Digital Services Act, the UK
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online safety act, laws that just have
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international creep against American
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tech companies that can only be
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protected by the White House and the
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State Department. And then you've got
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the fact that this admin has a very
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different posture on AI than the Biden
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administration. The Biden administration
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told Mark Andre, "Don't even bother.
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Don't even bother creating a startup AI
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company. Don't even bother. There's
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going to be no such thing as little tech
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anymore. We're going to create a
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government cartel, a government
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protected cartel of a handful of majors,
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which were basically going to be open
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AI." That was Microsoft effectively at
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the time, and Google. And now that ain't
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the case anymore. There's X AI through
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through Elon's. There's a dozen
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competitors that all are getting
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essentially giant government contracts
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and support. And the fact is if Google
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does not win that race or if it's not
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competitive, you won't have Google
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search anymore. People will just use
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their Gro or they'll use ChatGpt instead
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of Gemini. Then the entire business
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model of Google goes away. You had the
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Biden administration being able to pull
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the strings, if you will, with with big
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tech actors like Google, but which one
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has more actual lasting impact in
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ensuring that we all can participate
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online with total freedom? Is it the
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monetary aspects or is it the
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ideological ones? Because, god forbid,
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next round you have a Biden 2.0 you
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know, step into that White House and all
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of a sudden we could be back in a regime
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where the ideological puzzle pieces fall
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right back into place.
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Uh, we will be in in in that situation,
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but it's still better to start from a
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place of institutional strength. I mean,
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you can't I think a lot of people are
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looking for permanent solutions in this,
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something they can set it and forget it.
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It reminds me of Fight Club when Ed
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Norton says, "I got that IKEA furniture
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and I was going to have that for the
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rest of my life." And then the apartment
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blows up. Life doesn't work that way in
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in this space. Anything that can be
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built can be unbuilt.
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There's no reprieve from the duty to put
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constant pressure on. As long as the
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lever exists, there will be pressure by
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one side or the other to turn that lever
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one side or the other. And so it's like
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we have an army. We have a big big army.
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There will always be a pressure to
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either use it or not use it for a war or
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for peace. And if you just pretend you
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don't need to lobby against the war,
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then the war hawks are going to turn the
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Pentagon in a particular direction. It's
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the same thing with speech policies
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online. And this is why I campaigned,
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frankly, against the section 230 folks
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back in 2018, 2019, 2020. Not because I
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didn't think it's useful in a in a
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utopian world, but because I knew what
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was driving that repeal section 230 idea
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coming out of the White House and and
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Trump's all cap tweets was a desire to
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not have to do the trench warfare. Was a
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desire to not have to recognize that
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levers have to be used to create
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institutional pressure for the values
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that are embedded in our constitution?
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What criteria do you expect Google to
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actually impose when it comes to
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deciding who can or will return to the
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platform? I mean, do you think it's
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going to be an automatic lift or is it
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going to be kind of a case-byase
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judgment?
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I think it's going to be case by case
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and I think it's going to depend on how
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much pressure is exerted in each case. I
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think right now what Google is doing is
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auditioning for government grants and
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contracts by putting high-profile people
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back on for another chance. As I
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mentioned, employees had videos
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reinstated. But I think it's going to
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take constant pressure to hold Google.
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They're not doing I always said when
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this when when when the government got
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in the censorship business, Twitter had
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their arm and their leg twisted.
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Facebook had their arm and their leg
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twisted. Google did it willingly. Google
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enjoyed it. They'll need to be held to
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the fire of their feet. seems to track
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and I think you're right about that.
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Mike Benz, a pleasure as always. We're
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all out of time.
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