In a notable incident that has ignited discussions on censorship, Brian Rose, who is running for the position of London Mayor, took a stand against YouTube by adorning the company’s London headquarters at King’s Cross with posters championing the cause of free speech.
On March 15, last Friday, Rose executed his plan, successfully affixing posters with messages such as ‘Free speech matters’, ‘Say no to censorship’, and ‘Be more Elon’ – the latter being a nod to X’s famously outspoken proprietor – before the intervention of YouTube employees.
Rose commented, “I know first-hand how censorship can affect people and I know first-hand how much power a platform such as YouTube has over everyone who uses it. I was deplatformed by YouTube last year and, at a stroke, my business was put at risk. I had done nothing illegal and yet YouTube was able to freeze me out of my own channel, arbitrarily and without having to explain what was happening and why. Platforms such as YouTube hold great power over all their users, and make a great deal of money from those users, and yet they are not held to account for their abuses.”
A cornerstone of Rose’s campaign for the upcoming May 2 election is the vision of transforming London into a leading digital hub. This ambition includes implementing robust measures to shield users from censorship and to protect digital platforms from being coerced into censoring their users.
Rose has previously expressed concerns over tech behemoths assuming the roles of judge, jury, and executioner, all the while profiting immensely from their platforms.
He further stated, “What I am fighting against here is a clear violation of human rights, an abuse of power that allows global mega-brands to crush the digital freedoms of the very people they rely on to make their vast profits. London – and the world – deserves better and, as Mayor, I will leverage my powers to work with the tech giants to ensure our capital is a best-in-class example of how we can embrace technology and, at the same time, protect our hard-won freedoms.”
