I strongly support the First Amendment and freedom of speech. But spreading false information on social media that potentially endangers the safety of the public violates this basic freedom. Ken Jebsen has been spreading conspiracy theories for years on his KenFM YouTube channel. Most of this is the usual drivel about how the CIA and Mossad (or Israel) are the root of all evil in the world (Jebsen stated once that the Holocaust was a public relations stunt). The content was dumb but basically harmless - much of it was a regurgitation of conspiracies promoted on the Russian propaganda outlet RT Deutsch.
But recently Jebsen's profile in Germany has been enhanced by the coronavirus pandemic and the containment/prevention policies of testing, social distancing and contact tracing implemented by public health officials and Chancellor Angela Merkel. Jebsen promotes the conspiracy theory that the pandemic is a giant hoax concocted by Bill Gates - who "owns" the World Health Organization as well as the entire media and political establishment of Germany. Jebsen has "proof" that Gate's intention is to further enrich himself by producing an unsafe vaccine and then forcibly injecting it into all Germans through an "Impfpflicht" (mandatory vaccine). Also, Gates is behind the requirement to wear protective face masks in order to inspire fear in the population. The coronavirus, Jebsen insists, is no more dangerous or deadly than the seasonal flu. These "theories" are of course totally preposterous and should just be ignored - except that hundreds of thousands of Germans seem believe there is some truth to this conspiracy. Jebsen outlined his "theory" in a video - Gates kapert Deutschland ("Gates is hijacking Germany"), which has been viewed over 3 million times. Last weekend there were large "resistance" demonstrations in Berlin, Stuttgart, and elsewhere where demonstrators carried banners and placards attacking Gates and the chancellor. The danger is that these demonstrators - who refuse to wear masks or adhere to social distancing - are risking infections of themselves or people they come into contact with. The longer-term danger is that when an effective vaccine does become available a large segment of the population will refuse to get vaccinated because they follow Jebsen, RT Deutsch, and other conspiracy outlets.
I have contacted YouTube, Google, and the YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki about blocking KenFM on the platform. In a recent interview Wojcicki spoke about YouTube's policy concerning false information pertaining to the COVID-19 pandemic:
YouTube Susan Wojcicki has suggested that the video platform will remove content that contradicts the World Health Organization's advice on COVID-19.In an interview with CNN published Sunday, Wojcicki said YouTube would be "removing information that is problematic" including "anything that is medically unsubstantiated."For example, she said, content that claimed vitamin C or turmeric would cure people of COVID-19 would be "a violation of our policy" and removed accordingly.She continued: "Anything that goes against WHO recommendations would be a violation of our policy and so remove is another really important part of our policy." Wojcicki acknowledged that YouTube had had to quickly update its policies in response to the virus, and the accompanying spread of misinformation.
Clearly Ken Jebsen - through his KenFM YouTube channel (half a million subscribers) is spreading false and dangerous misinformation and should be immediately removed from the platform.
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