Technology

YouTube Suspends Rudy Giuliani For False Election Claims

Rudy_Giuliani | Circa October 2006 | By Crzrussian (Cropped from w:Image:Bedrick with Giuliani.jpg) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

YouTube suspended former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani again for spreading false information related to the 2020 presidential election, claiming the election was stolen.

Rudy Giuliani was suspended for repeatedly claiming the election was stolen from former President Donald Trump, who President Joe Biden unseated in November, Bloomberg reported. YouTube cited its “presidential election integrity policy” and its “regulated goods policy,” alleging that Giuliani had posted content facilitating nicotine use.

“We removed content from the Rudy W. Giuliani channel for violating our sale of regulated goods policy, which prohibits content facilitating the use of nicotine, and our presidential election integrity policy,” a YouTube spokesperson told Bloomberg in a statement.

“Additionally, in accordance with our long standing strikes system, we issued a strike against the Rudy W. Giuliani channel, which temporarily restricts uploading or live-streaming,” the statement continued. 

Giuliani was suspended for similar violations in January, according to Bloomberg. If he violates the policy a third time, he will be permanently banned from the popular video sharing and live streaming platform.

In the aftermath of the election, Giuliani represented Trump in several election fraud lawsuits and made a series of unsubstantiated claims regarding the outcome of the election. Voting machine and software maker Dominion Voting Systems filed a $1.3 billion defamation lawsuit against the former New York City mayor in January.

“He and his allies manufactured and disseminated the ‘Big Lie,’ which foreseeably went viral and deceived millions of people into believing that Dominion had stolen their votes and fixed the election,” the lawsuit alleged.

YouTube suspended Trump’s account following the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, citing potential incitement to violence from his content. Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Twitch, Reddit and many others suspended the former president as well.