TikTok Removes Pro-Kyle Rittenhouse Video Posted by Young Americans for Liberty Over ‘Hate Speech’

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TikTok removed a video supportive of Kyle Rittenhouse for violating its policies on “hate speech,” a group alleged Thursday.

“TikTok has proven itself to be a catalyst for the same kind of leftist censorship that has overrun platforms like Facebook and Twitter,” a spokesperson for the organization, Young Americans for Liberty, said in a statement to Fox News. “TikTok claimed YAL’s video supporting Rittenhouse’s Second Amendment rights featured ‘illegal activities and regulated goods.’ But just like it is not illegal to defend oneself from Antifa thugs, it is not illegal to post videos about the right to defend oneself from Antifa thugs.”

The 32-second video featured the group’s marketing strategist, Brett Cooper, commenting on Rittenhouse’s case. “First of all, he was acquitted,” Cooper noted. She also opined on his future as an online student at Arizona State University, adding, “They are trying to deny this young man a college education simply because they disagree with his beliefs and his actions. That is a dangerous precedent to set.”

The group said TikTok flagged the video for a “hate speech” violation on Dec. 2, a day after it was posted, though a subsequent takedown notice included a reference to “illegal activities and regulated” goods.

Rittenhouse, 18, was found not guilty by a Wisconsin jury last month for the August 2020 incident during riots in Kenosha, Wisconsin, in which he fatally shot two men, Joseph Rosenbaum and Anthony Huber.

Watch the video above via YouTube.