Live Action Fights Youtube and Pinterest Censorship

ORGANIZATION RELEASES DETAILED EVIDENCE SHOWING YOUTUBE AND PINTEREST HAVE SUPPRESSED EDUCATIONAL CONTENT AND BREACHED CONTRACTS IN DISCRIMINATORY ACTIONS THAT HAVE CAUSED MONETARY LOSS AND REPUTATIONAL DAMAGE

Washington, D.C.  – Live Action is charging that YouTube and Pinterest have violated the law by engaging in illegal and discriminatory action against the organization based on its pro-life ideology and mission. Citing detailed examples ranging from breach of contract for failing to run approved and paid-for ads to false accusations against Live Action to ban its account, Live Action made it abundantly clear that it is looking at all options to highlight and expose the discriminatory and speech suppression activities of both tech companies.

Demand Letters:

Live Action Legal Demand Letter to Youtube

Live Action Legal Demand Letter to Pinterest

Statement from Lila Rose, Founder and President of Live Action:

“When reviewing the evidence in both of these cases, it is quite clear that YouTube and Pinterest have engaged in discriminatory and speech-suppressing actions that have led to monetary and reputational damages to our organization. We have played by the rules outlined by these enterprises, paid our bills and lived up to the terms of service agreements, yet they still choose to discriminate against us because we are a pro-life advocacy organization.”

Live Action has retained Harmeet Dhillon of the Dhillon Law Group to represent the organization. Ms. Dhillon is a nationally recognized attorney with a focus on commercial litigation, employment law, First Amendment rights, and election law.   

Statement from Harmeet Dhillon, Dhillon Law Group:

“YouTube and Pinterest are clearly in violation of the law and must remedy this situation. The evidence in both of these cases is substantial, ranging from suppression of speech and breach of contract to censorship and banning of Live Action based on false claims.”

Dhillon sent cease and desist demand letters to both YouTube and Pinterest on August 21st, giving the tech giants until August 30 to remedy the matter. In the letter to YouTube’s legal director, John Ferrie, Dhillon charges: “In reliance on YouTube’s promises, Live Action generated video ad content, and satisfied all of YouTube’s various conditions and terms of service posted on its website and on affiliated websites, which satisfaction YouTube has acknowledged by approving the ads. Nevertheless, YouTube failed to deliver the promised advertisements.

“YouTube’s speech-suppressing tactics have since grown to include effectively barring Live Action from placing video advertisements on YouTube. As a result of this failure to perform, Live Action has suffered monetary losses, including the expense and effort required to generate ad content, and has effectively been banned from an important quasi-public speech forum on a pivotal issue of public interest: abortion. Accordingly, YouTube is in breach of its agreement and promises to YouTube and is liable for the same.” Only Youtube has replied saying it is looking into the matter.

In June of this year, Pinterest banned Live Action from the platform, falsely labeling the pro-life advocacy group a “pornographic” site. In her letter to Pinterest General Counsel, Christine Flores, Dhillon writes: “At some point prior to June 10, 2019, Pinterest began to selectively censor and suppress the spread of Live Action’s pro-life educational and political content on its platform. It did so by inaccurately labeling LiveAction.org as ‘pornography,’ and placing LiveAction.org on an internal domain blacklist based on that pretext. Regrettably, Pinterest’s conduct to date suggests that Live Action cannot expect equal treatment on equal terms from Pinterest; instead, it appears that our client can expect kneejerk reactions and poorly thought-out pretexts for speech suppression. Pinterest’s blatant and arbitrary discrimination against Live Action violates California law, and entitles Live Action to compensatory and injunctive relief.”

“It is truly sad and disheartening that in a society built on the principles of freedom of speech and assembly companies like YouTube and Pinterest, who clearly benefit from these first principles of American culture, are engaging in not-so-subtle tactics to suppress speech with which they disagree,” Rose said.

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Live Action is a national nonprofit organization dedicated to exposing the truth about abortion and affirming the life of every child. Live Action exists to change hearts and minds about abortion through compelling educational media, human interest stories, and investigative reporting that exposes the lies and corruption in the abortion industry. With the largest online following in the pro-life movement, Live Action’s videos and content reach millions of people every week. Find out more at http://www.liveaction.org

Live Action Fights Youtube and Pinterest Censorship

ORGANIZATION RELEASES DETAILED EVIDENCE SHOWING YOUTUBE AND PINTEREST HAVE SUPPRESSED EDUCATIONAL CONTENT AND BREACHED CONTRACTS IN DISCRIMINATORY ACTIONS THAT HAVE CAUSED MONETARY LOSS AND REPUTATIONAL DAMAGE

Washington, D.C.  – Live Action is charging that YouTube and Pinterest have violated the law by engaging in illegal and discriminatory action against the organization based on its pro-life ideology and mission. Citing detailed examples ranging from breach of contract for failing to run approved and paid-for ads to false accusations against Live Action to ban its account, Live Action made it abundantly clear that it is looking at all options to highlight and expose the discriminatory and speech suppression activities of both tech companies.

Demand Letters:

Live Action Legal Demand Letter to Youtube

Live Action Legal Demand Letter to Pinterest

Statement from Lila Rose, Founder and President of Live Action:

“When reviewing the evidence in both of these cases, it is quite clear that YouTube and Pinterest have engaged in discriminatory and speech-suppressing actions that have led to monetary and reputational damages to our organization. We have played by the rules outlined by these enterprises, paid our bills and lived up to the terms of service agreements, yet they still choose to discriminate against us because we are a pro-life advocacy organization.”

Live Action has retained Harmeet Dhillon of the Dhillon Law Group to represent the organization. Ms. Dhillon is a nationally recognized attorney with a focus on commercial litigation, employment law, First Amendment rights, and election law.   

Statement from Harmeet Dhillon, Dhillon Law Group:

“YouTube and Pinterest are clearly in violation of the law and must remedy this situation. The evidence in both of these cases is substantial, ranging from suppression of speech and breach of contract to censorship and banning of Live Action based on false claims.”

Dhillon sent cease and desist demand letters to both YouTube and Pinterest on August 21st, giving the tech giants until August 30 to remedy the matter. In the letter to YouTube’s legal director, John Ferrie, Dhillon charges: “In reliance on YouTube’s promises, Live Action generated video ad content, and satisfied all of YouTube’s various conditions and terms of service posted on its website and on affiliated websites, which satisfaction YouTube has acknowledged by approving the ads. Nevertheless, YouTube failed to deliver the promised advertisements.

“YouTube’s speech-suppressing tactics have since grown to include effectively barring Live Action from placing video advertisements on YouTube. As a result of this failure to perform, Live Action has suffered monetary losses, including the expense and effort required to generate ad content, and has effectively been banned from an important quasi-public speech forum on a pivotal issue of public interest: abortion. Accordingly, YouTube is in breach of its agreement and promises to YouTube and is liable for the same.” Only Youtube has replied saying it is looking into the matter.

In June of this year, Pinterest banned Live Action from the platform, falsely labeling the pro-life advocacy group a “pornographic” site. In her letter to Pinterest General Counsel, Christine Flores, Dhillon writes: “At some point prior to June 10, 2019, Pinterest began to selectively censor and suppress the spread of Live Action’s pro-life educational and political content on its platform. It did so by inaccurately labeling LiveAction.org as ‘pornography,’ and placing LiveAction.org on an internal domain blacklist based on that pretext. Regrettably, Pinterest’s conduct to date suggests that Live Action cannot expect equal treatment on equal terms from Pinterest; instead, it appears that our client can expect kneejerk reactions and poorly thought-out pretexts for speech suppression. Pinterest’s blatant and arbitrary discrimination against Live Action violates California law, and entitles Live Action to compensatory and injunctive relief.”

“It is truly sad and disheartening that in a society built on the principles of freedom of speech and assembly companies like YouTube and Pinterest, who clearly benefit from these first principles of American culture, are engaging in not-so-subtle tactics to suppress speech with which they disagree,” Rose said.

###

Live Action is a national nonprofit organization dedicated to exposing the truth about abortion and affirming the life of every child. Live Action exists to change hearts and minds about abortion through compelling educational media, human interest stories, and investigative reporting that exposes the lies and corruption in the abortion industry. With the largest online following in the pro-life movement, Live Action’s videos and content reach millions of people every week. Find out more at http://www.liveaction.org