Off-Communists Shut Down BitChute
If you use BitChute, when you logged on this morning you will have seen this notice.
If you are reading this article on a mobile phone and the text is too small, it reads as follows:
“To our valued users in the United Kingdom,
After careful review and ongoing evaluation of the regulatory landscape in the United Kingdom, we regret to inform you that BitChute will be discontinuing its video sharing service for UK residents.
The introduction of the UK Online Safety Act of 2023 has brought about significant changes in the regulatory framework governing online content and community interactions. Notably, the Act contains sweeping provisions and onerous corrective measures with respect to content moderation and enforcement. In particular, the broad enforcement powers granted to the regulator of communication services, Ofcom, have raised concerns regarding the open-ended and unpredictable nature of regulatory compliance for our platform.
The BitChute platform has always operated on principles of freedom of speech, expression and association, and strived to foster an open and inclusive environment for content creators and audiences alike. However, the evolving regulatory pressures—including strict enforcement mechanisms and potential liabilities—have created an operational landscape in which continuing to serve the UK market exposes our company to unacceptable legal and compliance risks. Despite our best efforts to navigate these challenges, the uncertainty surrounding the OSA’s enforcement by Ofcom and its far-reaching implications leaves us no viable alternative but to cease normal operations in the UK.”
The full page has also been archived. So what does this mean?
Simply that the forces of darkness known as the Labour Government and its many collaborators have succeeded in closing this excellent video site to UK users. BitChute is based here so this will cause it more problems than the ubiquitous Google, which has of course had its own problems with the British and other European governments.
BitChute can still be accessed by overseas users - and in the UK if you use a VPN. (There are many of these excellent apps available but my personal choice is AVG).
The specific body responsible for this act of barbarism is OfCom, which Dan Wootton and others allude to as the Off-Communists - a fair comment if ever there was one. BitChute has been the subject of vitriol by much of the mainstream media more or less since its inception in 2017. In March 2022, the Guardian lamented that it was continuing to host RT - Russia, Russia, Russia, anyone?
Earlier, the blog of the grandly titled Community Security Trust complained that it was hosting untold amounts of anti-Semitic propaganda. Much of what the CST regards as propaganda or “hate” is anything but. It will be noted however that “hate” is something always attributed to the largely mythical far right. At the time of writing, leftists are engaged in a terror campaign against Elon Musk, his company Tesla, as well as people of all political persuasions and none who drive this make of electric car. And it wasn’t the far right who came out in support of the murderers of October 7, nor is is the far right that continues to support these monsters today.
Like Rumble, BitChute is a platform dedicated to free speech; the only thing that can’t be found on it is extreme pornography. Everything else that is legal is welcome, including far left “hate” videos, be they videos directed at Elon Musk, Donald Trump and other billionaires or against the “ruling class” in general.
Because of this and for other reasons, in particular the inability of many people to assess evidence accurately, there is disinformation, misinformation and “hate” in abundance on all free speech websites. This allows ordinary people to use their judgment and make up their own minds about what is true or false. Governments or bodies outsourced by governments to suppress what some dolt in Parliament or elsewhere considers misinformation or “hate” is far, far worse. The officially sanctioned lies about Covid-19 and the notorious affair of the Hunter Biden laptop are but two examples of how this kind of censorship can mislead the public, including to our detriment.