Politics

Although YouTube reversed call on public comment, county won't take platform back

By Lightning Reports, Published: August 9, 2021

The reversal of its policy that caused YouTube to delete a Henderson County Board of Commissioners meeting from the platform won't cause commissioners to reconsider their own decision to drop the video service, the county announced.

The county said in a news release Monday that the Washington Post had contacted the Board of Commissioners about the board's decision to drop YouTube as the hosting site for replays of its regular board meetings. After YouTube removed the recording of the June 16 meeting of the Henderson County Board of Commissioners for violating YouTube’s policy regarding “medical misinformation,” the board switched to another platform for hosting the county’s meeting recordings. The Board of Commissioners in the news release cited as reasons its support for free speech and the public's ability to have access to its meetings.

The Post reported Saturday that YouTube had revised its policy and would no longer delete videos of public comment at local government and school board meetings.

Vice Chair Rebecca McCall told the Post that commissioners had called on the School Board to drop the use of Chromebooks made by Google, which owns YouTube.

“We have challenged our school board to find other access for computers and laptops for our children other than Google,” she said, “and to move away from Google Chromebooks as quickly as they possibly can.”

"While the Henderson County Board of Commissioners appreciates the correction to YouTube’s policy, the Board stands by its decision to move the county’s video recordings to another platform to provide a venue for the public to review all open meetings," the county's news release said. "The Board of Commissioners has no plans to revert to the YouTube website for this service."