YouTube Suspends Independent Streams Of Rittenhouse Trial During Closing Arguments

As the jury in the trial of Kyle Rittenhouse is hearing closing arguments, YouTube briefly suspended independent streams of the Rittenhouse trial during closing arguments.

Rittenhouse, 18, is charged with killing two men and wounding a third during protests in Kenosha, Wisconsin in August 2020.

PJMedia.com reports that right after Assistant District Attorney Thomas Binger began his closing statement in the trial, YouTube cut off channels that were beating legacy media channels.

The Rekieta Law channel, which features multiple lawyers doing real-time analysis of the trial, often beat the number of people watching the PBS stream, PJ Media reports.

PJ Media reports the PBS stream is one of the more reliable ones available to YouTube users and was being used by several outlets.

Nick Rekieta of Rekieta Law tweeted at YouTube stating that pushing down independent creators "in favor of BOGUS copyright from Media Partners" is a breach of contract.

Rekieta Media tweeted at YouTube and said, "This is a PUBLIC HEARING and there is no copyright issue. You're suppressing."

YouTube seems to have addressed the issue, but not before dropping Rekieta Law's stream with approximately 40,000 viewers.

But Rekieta wasn’t the only stream cut-off, as Dan Abrams’s Law & Crime channel was also cut off, per reports.

At the time of publication, Rekieta Law's live stream has over 83,600 individuals watching.

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Follow Meg Turner on Twitter @Megnturner_ and Instagram @Megnturner.