Rand Paul Says YouTube Had the Right To Suspend Him, Admits ‘Many on Right’ Go Too Far In Big Tech Criticism

Rand Paul warned fellow Republicans against taking their criticism of Big Tech too far, telling ReasonTV that YouTube had the "right" to suspend him in 2021 over a video questioning the effectiveness of masks and mask mandates during the COVID pandemic. 

"The important part of this debate is that we not get carried away," Paul said.

"Many people on the right get carried away with how terrible Big Tech is and they now want to regulate Big Tech or force Big Tech to take their opinions. I don't believe in that at all," he added.

The Kentucky senator said the focus should be on any ties between government and Big Tech.

He pointed to an alleged $3 million in payments made by the federal government to Twitter for content moderation between 2019 and 2021, according to Twitter Files released after Elon Musk purchased the company. 

FBI Director Christopher Wray told Paul in the Senate last month he was unaware of any such payment, but said the federal government is required to reimburse companies that "go through expenses to produce information." . 

The senator has pushed for "limiting" interaction between the government and social media companies, but insisted social media companies have the right to police speech on their own however they see fit. 

"If Twitter wants to censor me or YouTube wants to take my speech down because I say masks don't work, that is their prerogative. They're a private company and I would never want to stop them," Paul said.