The Chris Cuomo Project - The Problem of Censorship in Modern Media

Episode Date: November 30, 2023

In this eye-opening episode of The Chris Cuomo Project, Chris delves deep into the complexities of censorship in modern media. He explores the subjective nature of content moderation across various platforms, including mainstream news outlets and social media, and raises critical questions about the influence of corporate interests and government on what we see and hear. Drawing upon a recent instance of YouTube restricting the reach of Chris’ coverage of the Israel-Hamas War, he dissects the nuances of being a free thinker in an age where editorial discretion and censorship shape our consumption of news. Follow and subscribe to The Chris Cuomo Project on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube for new episodes every Tuesday and Thursday: https://linktr.ee/cuomoproject Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Censorship is real, it's taking different forms, but it's doing even worse things, and I see it in places that I want you to see it as well. I'm Chris Cuomo. Welcome to The Chris Cuomo Project. Support for The Chris Cuomo Project comes from Sundays. Now, we got a problem in the Cuomo. Welcome to the Chris Cuomo Project. Support for the Chris Cuomo Project comes from Sundays. Now, we got a problem in the Cuomo house. We got three dogs who now like Sundays better than the other food that I was giving them. Sundays is healthy dog food, easy to store, okay? Very tasty, very nutritious because Sundaes is fresh dog food made from a short list of human-grade ingredients.

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You'll get details and important safety information. You're going to need a subscription. It's required. Plus, price is going to vary based on product and subscription plan. And we are dealing with something that matters to all of us in ways that we're not even aware. So thank you for subscribing and following. And I apologize in advance that this video isn't going to get to everyone who needs to see it and for the wrong reasons, okay? This is about being a free agent and an independent and a critical thinker. How

can you do that if you have platforms making decisions for you about what they think you should see and hear. That's problematic in the main. Now look, all platforms, ABC News, CNN, New York Times, No BS News, Joe Rogan, or anyone you want, anyone that you want to put as a media platform, they're all making subjective judgments. They can tell you as many times as they want, as I do, hey, I'm not here to censor, I'm here to give you a chance to figure it out, but I'm still deciding what to talk to you about, and what questions to ask, and what answers to use, and how to edit certain things. We don't do a lot of editing here at all, but you get the point. So there's a subjectivity, there's a choice structure. There's editorial discretion pretty much everywhere. Okay, so that's part of the reality.

And caveat emptor, all right, buyer beware, and you pick it on the basis of where you get the best outcome. Now, there's another issue, okay? And there are two more issues. Now, first, I'm gonna deal with one that doesn't get enough attention, but is a little bit of an aha,

a little bit of an eyebrow popper. The increasing crackdown on what is okay, okay? It's not just about politics, and it's not just about people wanting to censor Trump things. These are people who are using a macro reality, a widespread reality, as if they're the only victims of it, to benefit themselves. Because there's a very appealing thing in our society, which is they don't want you to know this, so it must be powerful. Sometimes they don't want you to know because it's not true. Sometimes they don't want you to know because it's mean and feeding hate. Sometimes they don't want you to know because they think it's bad for business.. Sometimes they don't want you to know

because they think it's bad for business. And sometimes they don't want you to know because they don't like the person. But they just use, opportunists will just use that last one. They don't like Trump, so dot, dot, dot. Please, Trump's not special. There are a lot of people being censored. And there are two big problems here.

One gets no attention. And here's it. Now, Greg and I were just talking about this. And so to him, it's going to seem like I'm doing this off the top of my head. But I've actually been thinking about this a lot because Michael Schellenberger, who comes on the Chris Cuomo Project, comes on my show at News Nation, has his own platform. He's got a great sub stack that you should check out. you should check out. He talks about censorship being real a lot, and he looks at it in terms of the government keeping different social media platforms from putting certain information out about Biden or something. Now, I've said this before, and I'm going to say it again.

The government has been leaning on media outlets as long as I have been in the media, okay? The people who run media outlets, and by the way, your little cottage industry friends too, especially on the right, but also on the left, who do you think they spend their days talking to? Why do you think these people show up on their programs? Because they're friendly with them, because they have relationships with them, okay? It doesn't matter if it's the anchor of ABC News or NBC News or Ben Shapiro or Joe Rogan or Rachel Maddow or whoever you hate on the left. They all have relationships with people in power as other people in power, okay? So the idea that I'm the outsider, look, I think there is something valuable

about being an outsider. I think there's currency in that for you, especially in your leadership structure. Assuming these are outsiders who know how to operate within the systems they'll be in, if they're just clueless, then what's the value of being the outsider if they don't have the aptitude to go at it

without the inclinations of wanting to belong? You need both. to go at it without the inclinations of wanting to belong. You need both. So there's a lot of influence and influence sharing. So the idea that someone's really an outsider, beware of that claim. But, but, but, this is what happens.

First of all, you are forced to be inundated with frivolous, stupid content because people want to make money. People want reach. People want views. And the more you make it hard to do things that matter, the more people will do what's not hard and things that don't matter. So you get more Kardashian. not hard and things that don't matter. So you get more Kardashian, you get more stupid, you know, things that play to mental health concerns and body dysmorphia and addiction and the stupid parts of our culture and trivial things on TikTok and dances and things that we worry about corrupting our kids because there's money to be made there.

And the irony is that there's money to be made in things that aren't as good as things that we should be consuming that can't make money because they're being censored. See, so the safe spaces for the corporate side of the business wind up playing to your disadvantage and force feeding you a surfeit of shit that you have to pick from because it's safe, even though it's actually harmful. It's like sugar, okay? It's like, oh, we're afraid of proteins because the kidneys have to process it. So we'll just give you sugar.

So we all become diabetic. And that's what we are. We feed on the sensational. Now, there's another problem with this. I don't want these people determining what you should see and hear. Who are they? And by the way, this is like a typical problematic pendular, uniquely American reaction to a situation. What's our initial baseline opposition? publishers. It's not like News Nation, where we're making informed judgments about who to put on and how to put it on and what to ask and what to put out there for our audience. We're open to all.

Okay, so that's the baseline problem, which is I don't accept that. I don't believe in the, I built it so they can come, and I don't have any responsibility. All stadiums have responsibility. If that's what you are, you're not a publisher. You're a stadium. Okay. Stadiums, you ever read the back of your ticket? They have lots of liability. And that's why you have to assume risk when you go to a game or an event, that you may get hit in the head or whatever they see as a natural consequence of that sport, of that activity.

So there's still responsibility. And as a result, they've gone all the other way to now censoring certain content. And I know it's easy for them to say, damned if I do, damned if I don't. No, it's about how. It's about how. First of all, don't tell me that you can't because you put ads and things that are good for your corporate side near information that is poisonous and wrong and miss and disinformation because it raises the SEO and makes those ads more profitable. So you know how to place things to make money off the same content that you say

you don't know how to identify and control. So I don't believe you. And I also don't believe you because when Greg and I are online talking about some shared hobby interest, all of a sudden we both start getting ads for them. So you do know, okay? And you're learning more all the time.

And I'll just slap the label of AI on it. Every unknown about what can happen in the digital age is now AI. And you know, who knows about AI? And then what's going to happen with AI? I don't even know, okay? I don't know what artificial intelligence means until I see it put into a specific context and used in a certain capacity. But I do know this, they could do better.

So in the effort of doing better, now they're locking down a lot of things and people are weaponizing their very, very global and amorphous judgment structure as if they're being specifically targeted, you know? Like a Megyn Kelly will say, people don't want you to hear this because it's, you know,

and then she's going to go off and, you know, kick somebody's ass, which is her currency, right? Negativity is a proxy for insight. Makes you a lot of money, especially on the right side of the political spectrum. That's why she had to make nice with Trump so she could get back in the game. And I'm not picking on her. She's good at what she does. I know she does it at my expense once in a while. That's okay. That's what I signed up for. What I'm saying is that there's a whole world out there of people

who are agents of grievance, see themselves as being targeted. Now, they're wrong that they're special, but they're right that there is a structure that may be flagging them and keeping their content off. So I am one of them, and it makes no sense. I'm going through the numbers with Greg about what's working and what's not. He's like, well, it's tough to measure these ones because these were flagged. How the fuck can my content be flagged? That was a joke. You see, I used the F word. Anyway, the F word's not what gets you in trouble. But me talking about Israel and showing you the reality of being on the ground, that gets flagged. Reality gets

flagged. Well, it's too graphic. Oh, really? Oh, really? But you have mostly naked people on like a gazillion of your channels and in a million different manifestations of behavior. And that's not getting flagged. Now, by the way, I don't think it should be flagged. And not just because I'm a dirty old man, but because I believe in letting the best ideas win. I believe in not making things taboo. I don't even like what we've done with our language. I don't like political correctness because it puts a premium on what you say

versus how you act. So you can be bigoted and biased in your actions, but as long as you call somebody the right thing, then you're okay. I think that's the opposite of what we should be valuing. I don't like that a generation of kids see the N word as like, he who shall not be named in Harry Potter,

but they don't understand why. And they don't understand what really matters, which is the goal is not to say things that are offensive. It's to embrace different people and have them in your life as equals whom you love and you work with and you flourish. That's the goal. It's not just some bullshit sensitivity to a word. It's about your behavior.

Well, one leads to the other. Does it? Does it? Are we in a better place now? Because even saying N-word, I don't even, maybe that's going to get flagged. I don't even know if you're ever going to see this. It doesn't make any sense. It's not getting us to a better place. Oh, well, the images are blurred. First of all, I don't think they should blur the images. You guys get compassion fatigue on things. This happened during the war. We weren't allowed to show you the American dead.

Oh, it's too upsetting. Fuck you, it's too upsetting. What about for him? How upsetting was it for him? How about for his family? Oh, well, we don't want to offend the families. Fuck you, you don't want to offend the families. What do you think is offensive to them?

That their loved one isn't shown even after they made the ultimate sacrifice? That's not showing respect for the families. That's showing respect to your own interests of not wanting to show weakness and not showing that people are dying. But that's what drives the compassion fatigue because you don't stay as connected to the humanity. I feel the same way about all this stuff. Show the dead. A big mistake, in my opinion, okay, of how the October 7th massacre, some of you even question that.

How do you know it was a massacre? Because I saw. That's how. I saw what was done to bodies. Oh, those were faked. No, they weren't. Not what I saw. And you should see too, because now you're able to question, you're able to qualify. And all these justifications and rationalizations, even of terror, of a massacre perpetrated on a people who have a particular sensitivity to being targeted after a Holocaust,

and to see bodies dealt with in an inhumane, dehumanizing by design fashion, by a group sworn to their destruction, backed by a region that shares the same goal, is frightening. And we've lost that feel for it. And we only focus on the retaliation, which is extreme and horrible. And I absolutely agree with everyone who wants it to stop.

But how? How, when the stoppage in the minds of most people calling for a ceasefire requires nothing of the terror group who has sworn to continue fighting. The absurdity of this. So I'm fighting against a guy who is arguably inferior to me, even though he's got several friends who are waiting to maybe try to kick my ass. But let's put them to the side for a second. I'm beating his ass pretty good, even though he started the fight.

And you say, all right, enough now. You're really beating the guy up. But he swears that as soon as he can, he's going to come back and try to kill me. But you want me to stop. And what are you requiring of him, the guy who's swearing that he's going to kill me? You see, ceasefire sounds good, but it's a hollow proposition. Now, when I start showing you, they're going to flag this. And one of a couple of things are going to happen. They're going to remove it from monetization. Now, what does that mean? That means that they're not going to put ads on it.

Well, what else does it mean? It means that this is going to be put into a different algorithmic sector. What does that mean? That means that they're going to use different formulas for distribution. This is going to get less reach. Why? Because they can't make so much money off it.

And they decide what gets pumped. And there are different factors. It's not sole criterion. It's not switch on, switch off, succeed, fail. But the momentum that drives the growth is going to be limited, which means you're not going to get the momentum. Why?

Because they don't want to make money on it. Why? Because they've made a judgment that they say is reviewed by humans. What a human. Why don't you put these people's names out there? Why shouldn't we be able to know who it is that's making decisions

for this platform who says they're not in the publishing business, who are now making subjective judgments about what you can and can't see, and there's a person, but they won't tell you their name?

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Check it out. The Chris Cuomo Project is supported by Cozy Earth. Why? Because I like their sheets. That's why. A lot of people don't get a good night's sleep for a lot of reasons. One of the ones that you can control is bedding. One out of three of us report being sleep deprived. Okay, well, what is it? Well, it stresses all kinds of things, but the wrong sheets can make you hot, can make you cold. I'm telling you, I don't even believe it

either, but Cozy Earth sheets breathe. And here's what I love about them. Cozy Earth's best-selling sheet is a bamboo set, okay? Temperature regulating. Gets softer with every wash. I'm not kidding you, all right? Now, so if you go to CozyEarth.com and you enter the code, enter the code CHRIS, and you can get up to 35% off your first order. CozyEarth.com, and the code is CHRIS. And the guidelines. Here's some of the examples. Content that discusses child abuse is a main topic without detailed descriptions or graphic depictions. What does that mean? Like, literally, this was written by someone like me, I think, like a lawyer

who's trying to find a way around being seen as like, so what they don't want is kiddie porn, right? But shouldn't we be discussing about problems in our society? And shouldn't we be showing those problems in a way that isn't just, you know, wank tank material and that you should be able to make the judgments about what to see and what not? Dramatized or artistic depiction of eating disorders with triggering, that's another word, right?

Triggering. What does that mean? This is something that has generational application and a pseudo-psychological basis. What triggers you probably won't trigger me, okay? And what triggers me may not trigger you. So how do you have a standard? Imitable signals. Imitable, that's imitatable. So this is something where you'll wanna have an eating disorder. So how do we deal with people who have eating disorders

and we wanna show what lies in front of them and have them look at people who are like one way and then another way, is that all okay? Maybe, it should be, but will this grab it? Maybe, and then if you get flagged, guess what? It's like when you get rejected on an insurance claim. Your chance of turning that around is like dramatized or artistic descriptions of controversial issues that are moderately graphic. A movie depicts someone cutting their wrist with blood shown.

Are you serious? You don't change reality by hiding from reality. And if they are not publishers, why are they getting to decide what you see? Let the best ideas win. Worry about accuracy. Worry about promoting things that go to a hysterical degree of exaggeration. Oh, well, that we can't tell. And that's what we're trying to capture with this language.

No, you're not. You're trying to keep yourself from being seen as purveyors of filth. When the filthiest things are things that you're not even really approaching. Look, just so you get it, the main thing that we do when we're choosing what to watch is we scroll, right? So one of the main restrictions they can put on,

it's not just about the money, it's about the reach. So my video of me trying to show you the reality on the ground gets basically treated like almost like porn, kiddie porn, where you've got to be logged in and over 18 years of age to even access it. So what does that do? It removes you from reach algorithms of scrolling, the ease of which people find it. Very few people are looking for very specific things. And that's a problem, especially based on what it is, okay? This isn't how to make a bomb, all right? It's this is the reality of what may lead to a nuclear bomb. Watch it, see it, feel it. Don't have somebody else telling you what you can think, feel, and believe.

Look, Elon Musk is in charge of one of the biggest platforms, okay? He has become an obvious provocateur, which is playing on half-truths on a regular basis to get people. Look, I don't know him. He obviously believes that he can use controversy to drive more traffic to Twitter. I don't know that it's gonna work because I think that he is undermining the legitimacy by the obviousness of his ploy. That he's so obvious just looking for fires.

And it's not so much that he's adding gasoline, but he's like trying to kick the logs, you know, and hoping that it starts fires in his camp where he wants to be. And I think it's a mistake. He can do whatever he wants, again, because I believe let the best ideas win. I believe having a Musk out there creates an opportunity for somebody to be a better version of him. I think that you need the best ideas to win. I want you to hear the people on campus who are saying from the river to the sea,

Palestine be free. In order for that to be true, there can be no Israel. I want you to hear it because I believe that that idea should be tested against the idea of a two-state solution where nobody has to die. I just think it's absurd that that is being allowed on a campus that has a sensor structure and an intolerance structure in the name of tolerance that doesn't allow any minority except Jews to be targeted.

Can you imagine someone holding up a sign saying something about anything limiting the reach and existence of black Americans? Well, but they don't have the power that Jews do. Well, is that the test? Is that true? And if it is true, is that relevant to being a minority? So is that what you're supposed to be about as a campus? But now you're allowing the exception when it suits your politics or your preferences. That's the problem with censorship, is that you think you're protecting, but you're not.

You're making choices that drive agendas. That's just as corrosive as what you think you're protecting. Which is what? At the end of the day, what? What are you trying to do? You're trying to be decent. Graphic depictions or detailed descriptions of controversial issues as the main topic.

It doesn't even make sense. It's confusing by its nature to give them more latitude to make decisions. But when my stuff is getting flagged because I'm showing you the reality on the ground because it's too much for you, are you okay with that? Because I'm not. I'm not. I'm not. I'm just not going to limit the idea of censorship to,

that's why Joe Biden is getting away with everything, because it's censorship. Way more than that. That's about a lack of direct evidence and institutions of the administration of justice who are in no hurry to bring another case that is just going to create chaos. The whole point of the administration of justice who are in no hurry to bring another case that is just going to create chaos. The whole point of the administration of justice and the conformity to the law

is to have order, is to have something that we can depend on, standards that allows for equal protection. That's why they should be in no rush to be prosecuting Biden and why they should be in no rush to be prosecuting Biden and why they should have thought twice about all these different prosecutions of Trump no one's above the law prosecutorial discretion

they make judgments all the time on a very simple basis cops sitting there on the side of the highway I'm going after this one. Why? Why that one? That's what matters. That's what matters. Especially if it's not, well, that was the fastest. I'm telling you, this is a problem. And it's going to become more of a problem as we become more dependent on these for what our reality is. And we now have the next level, which is technology that allows someone to look and sound like a human being, maybe even posing as a specific human being, and putting things out that are not reliable. The mechanisms that are in place now are designed to allow the businesses to make money and

avoid litigation and public scrutiny. That's not the standard. The standard is what creates the best marketplace of ideas in America. That's what we care about. what creates the best marketplace of ideas in America. That's what we care about. And censorship is the enemy of ideas, okay? More is better. Well, but didn't that what you're saying is the problem with social media?

Hey, we're evolving, okay? If my choice is to be flooded with bullshit that I've got to wade through and take the time, hey, welcome to the supermarket, okay? Welcome to the supermarket, caveat emptor. I got to walk past the Ritz crackers and the cheese spray and all of the tasty shit that I want to push in my face to get to the things that I should be buying to help me be the healthiest.

That's hard. Choice is hard. Free will is hard. The answer to it is not limiting your choices and limiting your freedom by limiting what ideas you can consume. If my choices is a flood of bullshit versus having someone else decide what's okay for me to think about, I take the bullshit. I don't want anyone making decisions about what I'm able to take in. I'll decide. You know,

like the judges on the Supreme Court when they were talking about pornography. You can't really define it, but you know it when you see it. No, you know it for you when you see it, not for me. You don't get to decide what I think is indecent. You don't get to decide what I think is too much for me or what is distasteful to me or what words shouldn't be said. No words should be censored. The right to speak keeps evolving in the area of inclusion in our jurisprudence and exclusion in our culture. That doesn't make any sense. You can't shower fire in a crowded theater. Guess what?

Yes, you can. Google it. Why? Because the legal standard has evolved to require more. It's not just fire in a theater. It's saying things with specificity and direction that creates a reasonable chance of violence and injury. That's why something isn't simply an insurrection. That's why something isn't simply terrorism. There are specific definitions you have to meet,

and the definitions have become more expansive when it comes to speech. And our culture is getting more repressive. It doesn't make any sense. Having the right to say whatever you can doesn't make whatever you say right, but you should be making those choices. You should not have material of mine kept from people under 18 years of age. Those are the ones we need to understand the world there in Erud. These are the people who are being misguided and easily swayed by passions that become animus, that is misdirected. More ideas is better than less ideas, especially if you're not the one making the choice i'm totally in favor of censorship if it's done by you for you censor your ass off i'll never watch that i'll never read her i never, knock yourself out. That's your freedom. Make your own choices.

But I'm telling you, this word salad that they're coming up with, that's flagging stuff about a guy who's on the ground in Israel, who wants to show you the reality that's being twisted and abused in our politics and in our culture, that's getting flagged. That is not good. I don't give a shit about the monetization, okay? I am losing money on this proposition. That's okay because I believe in it. I believe in it. But you got to open your eyes and see what's happening. And it's not just about protecting Biden. It's not about trying to hurt Trump. Nobody has a bigger platform than that guy does. Should he have been thrown off social media?

Hell no. But he was lying. Then beat him with a better idea. But I can't because all the media is showing him that have someone that they find more intoxicating than Trump. That's competition. That's democracy. Let the best idea win. But I don't like it. I know. I know. You don't have a right to not be offended. One of my favorite lines from a song from the idols, I'll leave you with this. one of my favorite lines from a song from the idols.

I'll leave you with this. Nothing's ever been mended by standing up and saying you're offended. Go on, tell them what I intended. I say what I mean, I do what I love, and I fucking send it. You should be able to do the same, and you should be able to do the same and you should be able to get the reach that you deserve. And that should be judged by the people who are receiving it and no one else. Do you agree? Do you disagree? And why? I don't censor. All are welcome and let the best idea win.

all are welcome, and let the best idea win. I'm Chris Cuomo. Thank you for checking us out here, subscribing and following to the project, watching us on News Nation at 8 o'clock and 11 o'clock every weekday night, Eastern, Eastern. And the free agent merch, if you're a critical thinker and you want to wear your independence, check it out. Money's going to go to a good cause.

Let's get after it.