Conservatives Call Out Google Investment In The Young Turks: ‘This is Bizarre’

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Conservative Twitter was gobsmacked when news of Google’s investment into progressive streaming outfit The Young Turks broke Tuesday morning. Axios first reported the story citing “sources say the investment is in the mid-six figures range.”

The progressive media company will garner investment from Google-owned YouTube “to launch an online course called TYT Academy that focuses on the creation of digital-first local news.” The TYT Academy will post educational videos with corresponding quizzes that would need to be passed to earn a TYT Academy certificate.

Cenk Uygur, who founded and leads The Young Turks media conglomerate, is currently running for the congressional seat in California open after the resignation of Katie Hill. His candidacy was endorsed by Sen. Bernie Sanders in December, but that endorsement was quickly withdrawn under enormous pressure from the left for comments he’s made about women.

A Google spokesperson pointed out to Mediaite that in 2018 the company announced it would financially support over 85 organizations with wide-ranging political viewpoints, including Fox News and The Hill, as part of the program.

Some prominent conservatives on Twitter were vexed by the news, citing bias and an apparent double standard by what is frequently billed as “big tech censorship” by those on the right side of the aisle.

To wit:

YT is headed by the only Democrat congressional candidate crazy and hateful enough for Bernie Sanders unendorse him. But you can’t do targeted political ads or show a gun because that is against YouTube’s “values.” https://t.co/xaqYHbfmpc

— Matt Knee (@matt_knee) February 11, 2020

There’s absolutely no way YouTube would fund a far-right channel’s attempt to build out a local network like this. This is bizarre.

— Stephen Gutowski (@StephenGutowski) February 11, 2020

Among the, uh, many reasons this is questionable, isn’t this show hosted by a current congressional candidate? https://t.co/LFUwtqSnL5

— Alex Griswold (@HashtagGriswold) February 11, 2020

tell me on what planet other than Silicon Valley unicorn fantasy land does it make sense that @scrowder gets demonetized completely while the Young Turks get six figures directly from Google????

It’s like they’re not even trying anymore.

— Jason Howerton (@jason_howerton) February 11, 2020

Maybe the most succinct response was this:

Genuinely curious if Google googled the Young Turks before deciding to invest in them.

Yikes. https://t.co/pPT0ENBYzH

— Matt Whitlock (@mattdizwhitlock) February 11, 2020