YouTube has removed two new ads from the Trump campaign, which allege widespread corruption in the 2020 election and call on voters to contact state legislators “to demand a free and fair election.”
“As evidence of voter fraud and mishandled ballots mounts in battleground states across the country, the Trump Campaign is releasing two new ads titled ”The Evidence is Overwhelming—FRAUD!“ and ”STOP THE STEAL!'” the campaign said.
Clicking the links to the ads takes viewers to YouTube, featuring a black screen with the following message overlaid: “This video has been removed for violating YouTube’s Community Guidelines.”
Officials at YouTube didn’t immediately respond to a query by The Epoch Times about the reason for blocking the ads.
The company, which is owned by Google, didn’t provide additional context for its new election-related content policy but offered an example, saying, “We will remove videos claiming that a presidential candidate won the election due to widespread software glitches or counting errors.”
The video-sharing platform said it would begin “enforcing this policy today, and will ramp up in the weeks to come.” The company said news coverage and commentary on these issues “can remain on our site if there’s sufficient education, documentary, scientific, or artistic context.”
The Trump campaign said its two ads “inform viewers of the widespread corruption that occurred in the 2020 election, including suitcases of Biden ballots, dead people voting, and money-for-vote schemes, while also encouraging voters to call their legislators to demand a free and fair election.”
“President Trump won reelection by a landslide because of his strong handling of the economy, record vaccine delivery, and major foreign policy accomplishments,” the Trump campaign said.
“To uphold the sanctity of American democracy and stop the Democrats from stealing the 2020 election, voters must demand that every legal vote is counted and every illegal vote is discarded.”
Both ads are available for viewing on Twitter, with President Donald Trump posting them on his account, although Twitter applied warning labels to them.
State officials, however, have pushed back against the claim that the video shows anything illegal, saying that what has been claimed to be “suitcases” were, in fact, standard containers used to secure ballots and that the ballots in question were opened and prepared for counting earlier that night in full view of observers.
“The evidence is overwhelming,” the video claims, and urges people to contact their state legislators and “demand they fight for honest elections.”
“But something happened,” the ad says. “Some states rushed out mail-in ballots—a recipe for fraud. Dead people voting. Ballots miraculously appeared. Biden ballots added in the middle of the night.”
“It’s an outrage,” the ad claims. “The American people deserve to know the truth.”
It calls on voters to “demand an honest election and demand an honest count” and urges people to contact their legislators.
The president has a number of ongoing legal challenges in state and federal courts, while several lawsuits filed by third parties and attorney Sidney Powell are also proceeding through the judicial system.
The Epoch Times won’t declare a winner of the 2020 presidential election until all legal challenges are resolved.