Dennis Prager: Facebook apology unconvincing

Dennis Prager

Prager University founder Dennis Prager says he's unconvinced by an apology from Facebook for removing some of his commentary and educational videos.

He has a lawsuit over restrictions on his videos pending against Google and its subsidiary, YouTube, at the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

But in an interview with Fox, he talked about the apology from Facebook, which had taken down some of his videos, then restored them.

The company confirmed that they were not in violation of any Facebook standard.

Facebook told him, "We mistakenly removed these videos and have restored them because they don't break our standards."

The topics included an interview with a psychiatrist on how to forgive, and a talk from a rabbi on not gossiping.

The interview:

He told interviewer Shannon Bream that the issue is not just a few videos being restricted.

In fact, it's the future of free speech in the country.

"If the left doesn't like what you do, they censor you," he warned. "Tragically, the left doesn't believe in free speech."

He said a Pew Research poll showed college students don't believe the First Amendment applies to "hate" speech, but it is the students who want to define "hate."

Regarding Facebook, Prager said of the apology, "I'm skeptical. If they come back to us and say this is why it happened and we fired the guy who did it. … I'll be impressed. I suspect no one will pay a price at Facebook."

And he said another "mistake" will happen in the future.

If Americans don't awaken to the threat, he said, "We will lose … free speech."

He also discussed his lawsuit against Google and YouTube, noting that the lower court judge who dismissed it said social media claims that their platforms are open was "mere puffery."

Prager University describes itself as a "conservative nonprofit digital media organization that is associated with and presents the views of leading conservative experts on current and historical events."

In the YouTube case, U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh decided the organization did not successfully demonstrate YouTube infringed its free speech by restricting its videos by age.

The judge ruled internet giants, who have a virtual monopoly on web access and usage, weren't "state actors" and so weren't necessarily subject to the First Amendment's provisions about "public forums" for speech.

The censorship fight developed because the social media company claimed some of the Prager U videos were inappropriate for some viewers.

Those include videos titled "Cops Are The Good Guys," "Why American Must Lead," "College Made Me a Conservative" and "What's Wrong with E-Cigarettes?"

YouTube put a long list of videos under a restricted-access setting on its site, and Koh argued the defendants are "private entities" and essentially can do what they want.

Google, the YouTube owner, already had acknowledged that determining restrictions for videos can be subjective but declined to accept liability for its decisions.

WND reported the assertion that internet giants such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube have declared war on conservatives was gaining strength.

Talk-radio host Rush Limbaugh believes he has identified the ideology driving the internet giants.

"These people are pure – they would never think of themselves this way – but these are pure Stalinists. While they're running around call[ing] Trump a Stalinist, they don't even know what it really is," he charged.

Prager, whose petition to fight back against YouTube's censorship already has collected more than 511,000 signatures with a goal of 1 million, charges YouTube is restricting access to his work "simply because they present a conservative point of view."

"Silicon Valley giants like YouTube continue to censor the ideas they don't agree with," he said. "They promote their leftist ideology and restrict conservative speech."