By Samantha Chang October 29, 2024 at 6:24am
Media mogul Joe Rogan posted his entire three-hour podcast with former President Donald Trump on X amid accusations that Google-owned YouTube had censored the Oct. 25 interview, making it difficult or nearly impossible to find online.
“Since there’s an issue with searching for this episode on YouTube here, is the full podcast with Trump,” Rogan wrote on X shortly after midnight ET on Tuesday.
This was a great move by Rogan, since X — which is owned by Trump-supporting billionaire Elon Musk — supports free speech far more than left-wing Google does.
Since there’s an issue with searching for this episode on YouTube here is the full podcast with Trump pic.twitter.com/sl2GTUaWdE
— Joe Rogan (@joerogan) October 29, 2024
The podcast has racked up more than 37 million views on YouTube since being posted last Friday.
Viewership is on a blistering pace despite many X users noting that they were initially unable to find the episode using the search terms “Rogan Trump” or “Rogan Donald Trump.”
YouTube has been accused of election interference over its apparent censorship of “The Joe Rogan Experience,” the No. 1 podcast in the world.
And while there’s no concrete proof that Google censored the highly anticipated Trump interview, many social media have jumped to that conclusion, given the tech titan’s history of pro-leftist censorship.
“There is no sensible explanation for this, and if deliberate, Google is overtly interfering with the elections,” one X user wrote on Monday.
YouTube does not return the link to the full Joe Rogan/Trump interview no matter how I try to search for it.
There is no sensible explanation for this, and if deliberate, Google is overtly interfering with the elections.@YouTube this needs fixed immediately. pic.twitter.com/4xt0V9V1EF
— Alexandros Marinos 🏴☠️ (@alexandrosM) October 28, 2024
“Google Executives need to go to prison for election interference,” another X user remarked.
YouTube is censoring the Joe Rogan Podcast with Donald Trump, here’s why
The Podcast was delivering
This American saw the podcast and became a Donald Trump voter, he just voted early because of the podcast
Google Executives need to go to prison for election interference pic.twitter.com/V2px3sij6z
— Wall Street Apes (@WallStreetApes) October 28, 2024
YouTube is censoring the Joe Rogan interview with Trump by not showing the video (with over 33m views) when you search for it, and people have noticed. WTF. pic.twitter.com/W75hey06vK
— Marcelo P. Lima (@MarceloPLima) October 28, 2024
It takes effort for a search engine not to be able to find an interview with 34M views between the biggest podcaster in the world and the most famous person in the world.
— David Sacks (@DavidSacks) October 28, 2024
As of early Tuesday morning, YouTube has apparently fixed the problem, since the Rogan-Trump interview now shows up using keyword searches.
However, would the situation have changed if there hadn’t been a huge social media backlash? While impossible to definitively say, it’s infuriating that we even have to wonder about this.
Meanwhile, Musk took a victory lap, touting X as the “#1 source of news on Earth!”
This platform is the #1 source of news on Earth! https://t.co/n0UWPXZzx1
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 29, 2024
It’s encouraging that X is owned by Musk, a free-speech advocate, but it’s alarming to consider what would happen if the platform were to change hands for some reason.
That said, it’s clear that the stranglehold the legacy media once had on news coverage and public discourse is on its deathbed.
Samantha Chang is a political commentator, lawyer and financial editor in NYC.
Samantha Chang is a politics writer, lawyer and financial editor based in NYC.
Advertise with The Western Journal and reach millions of highly engaged readers, while supporting our work. Advertise Today.
