Dennis Prager with Prager University Requests Preliminary Injunction in YouTube Censorship Lawsuit

Video producer and Founder of PragerU, Dennis Prager is asking the court for a preliminary injunction against YouTube.

Prager sued YouTube in October for repeatedly censoring the regular videos that Prager University releases related to life, family, economics, and more. The videos are short, pithy discussion on social and political topics from a conservative viewpoint. Prager has asserted that YouTube is unfairly targeting their videos and restricting their views (and consequently both their reach and income) out of own liberal bias.

Last Friday, Prager asked a judge for a prelimary injunction seeking to have the restriction lifted off of his videos that have been censored due to liberal bias.

The Hollywood Reporter included Google’s statement on the lawsuit being filed by Prager. The statement says:

“YouTube is an open platform and, to make it a great place for users, creators and advertisers, we provide different choices and settings. Restricted Mode is an optional feature used by a small subset of users to filter out videos that may include sensitive or mature content. Giving viewers the choice to opt in to a more restricted experience is not censorship. In fact, this is exactly the type of tool that Congress has encouraged online services to provide for parents and others interested in a more family-friendly experience online.”

However, PargerU’s videos do not contain any nudity, profanity, or any otherwise “mature” content affirms PragerU Chief Executive Officer Marissa Streit. Streit has engaged in a year-long unsuccessful battle with YouTube in an effort to get them to lift the restricted status of the videos.

“Watch any one of our videos and you’ll immediately realize that Google/YouTube censorship is entirely ideologically driven. For the record, our videos are presented by some of the finest minds in the Western world, including four Pulitzer Prize winners, former prime ministers, and professors from the most prestigious universities in America,” stated PragerU founder Dennis Prager in a press release. Prager continued:

“They [YouTube] are engaging in an arbitrary and capricious use of their ‘restricted mode’ and ‘demonetization’ to restrict non-left political thought. Their censorship is profoundly damaging because Google and YouTube own and control the largest forum for public participation in video-based speech in not only California, but the United States, and the world.”

PragerU states that over fifty videos have been restricted and/or demonetized. PragerU compiled a complete list of their restricted videos here, The restricted videos include: “Why America Must Lead,” “The Ten Commandments: Do Not Murder,” “Why Did America Fight the Korean War,” and “The World’s Most Persecuted Minority: Christians.”