YouTube Censoring Videos by Vape Reviewers

With many vape reviewers reporting that YouTube is censoring their videos and in some cases even shutting down their accounts, NNA trustee Martin Cullip wrote an article explaining how such actions are setting “a dangerous precedent for free speech online.”

Diane Caruana

July 5, 2018

In an article on it’s website, the NNA explained that it has already successfully fought for the right of vape reviewers, to be able to continue sharing their opinions and insights with fellow vapers when the TPD was threatening a ban on marketing across borders. Martin Cullip from the organization is pointing out these efforts will have been wasted if YouTube keeps bypassing what is ultimately a democratic process, and keeps censoring reviews on the basis of unfounded moral panic.

In response to the panic raised in relation to JUUL and teen vaping, the FDA has been coming down hard on online advertisers including YouTube.

In an article on Spiked, Cullip said that in recent months, several YouTube reviewers of vaping products have reported having their content removed and in some cases their channels deleted. No doubt this is prompted by the ongoing initiatives to ban e-cigarettes’ marketing and the misinformation spread about the products in general.

Also one cannot not mention the recent noise created in relation to JUUL, the renowned USB-lookalike e-cigarette that is seemingly corrupting the world’s youth and creating a new wave of tobacco addiction. Alarming media reports about this product and youth vaping keep popping up despite the fact that data from around the world keep indicating that both smoking rates and vaping rates amongst youth are on the decline.

“The backlash against the Juul has been absurd. One particularly excitable anti-smoking activist was quoted in the New Yorker comparing this legal product to ‘bioterrorism’, “ explained Cullip, adding, “Meanwhile, a school in Maryland decided to remove the doors from student bathrooms to make sure the Juul wasn’t being used on its premises. Extreme measures never before used against secret smokers in schools have been introduced to attack a product that is 95% safer than tobacco.”

Online advertisers pressured by FDA

All this explains (but does not justify), YouTube’s actions. In response to the panic raised in relation to JUUL and teen vaping, the FDA has been coming down hard on online advertisers including YouTube, explained Cullip.

Sadly, added the NNA, despite advocating harm reduction, the non profit organization routinely suffers by having publicity removed from Google “for daring to mention anything related to quitting smoking.” Tragic, considering that after all the NNA shares material that is endorsed by the UK government, and that is contributing to the record breaking decreased smoking rates in the country.

Read Further: NNA