The site has completely scrubbed the channel of the former US intelligence officer, who has repeatedly voiced support for Russia
Former United Nations Chief Weapons Inspector on Iraq Scott Ritter talks to readers during the presentation of his book Disarmament Race, dedicated to nuclear security, at the Pobeda Culture and Leisure Centre in Novosibirsk, Russia. © Sputnik/Andrey Bortko
YouTube has terminated the account of former US spy Scott Ritter and deleted all of his videos on the platform. According to Ritter, the Google-owned social media giant accused his channel of violating the terms of service.
Writing on X (formerly known as Twitter), Ritter stated that his channel, ‘The Scott Ritter Show’, through which he attempted to “import Russian voices to an American/Western audience,” had been flagged for ‘hate speech’ and taken down without prior warning or any specific examples of the offense.
“There was never any hate speech involved in any of the episodes of ‘The Scott Ritter Show’, unless one views unique content from silenced voices hateful,” Ritter said, calling the move “the latest in a series of actions by YouTube to silence Russian voices.”
“[This] represents the living manifestation of the disease of Russophobia which has swept America and US-based social media platforms,” he wrote.
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In a separate post, Ritter noted that in addition to his channel, YouTube had also deleted the ‘Ask The Inspector’ channel, claiming that the move is “a targeted effort by YouTube to remove/minimize my voice, and those of my guests and the people who took the time to ask probing questions about the pressing issues of the day.”
“Those who are behind this should know – you won’t succeed,” Ritter said, adding that there is a “vast social media world” beyond YouTube, while warning those that remain on the platform that they will at some point have to conform to it or have their channels deleted, too.
