Libertarian Mag Reason Censored by YouTube, Continues to Defend ‘Private Company’s’ Right to Censor

Google-owned YouTube has censored Reason, taking down a video from the leading libertarian magazine reporting on biohackers working on DIY coronavirus vaccines. Reason condemned the censorship but continued to defend the tech monopoly’s right as a “private company” to censor them.

The video, titled “Biohackers Are on a Secret Hunt for the Coronavirus Vaccine” was uploaded in March, and reports on biohackers, who work on biological projects outside of corporate and government-controlled labs.

According to Reason, YouTube informed them that the video had been removed for violating its “medical misinformation policy.”

The “medical misinformation” policy has been repeatedly used by YouTube to censor prominent conservatives. Former congressman and presidential candidate Ron Paul,  Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI), and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis have all fallen victim to the draconian policy.

In an article for Reason reporting on the censorship, the journalist who produced the video defended the Google-owned video platform’s right to censor his content.

While YouTube, as a private company, is within its rights to decide what to carry, the decision to remove this video illustrates a disturbing, censorial trend that has accelerated in the age of COVID.

For years, I have covered biotechnology’s potential to improve our well-being and to liberate us from the constraints of our own biology. My reports have explored everything from lab-grown meat that could profoundly improve the global food supply to mail-order CRISPR kits that hand the keys to the genome to any biohacker bold enough to grab them.

According to the article, the reporter interviewed a biohacker working on creating a “knock-off” version of “one of the various mRNA or DNA coronavirus vaccines in development in early March 2020.” The biohacker remained anonymous due to fear of reprisal from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

Reason’s interview with the amateur vaccine-creators is still available on its website.