Mark Sleboda, an American YouTuber living in Russia, reported on September 24, 2024, that his YouTube channel, “The Real Politick with Mark Sleboda” was deleted on September 23. 

In a post on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, Sleboda stated the following: 

In a blatant act of political/geopolitical censorship, my 

@YouTube channel, The Real Politick with Mark Sleboda, was suddenly deleted yesterday, with zero strikes or warnings, under the absurd pretext of repeated violations of community guidelines regarding “hate speech”. 1/-

Curiously, Sleboda noted that he had not uploaded new videos to his YouTube channel in 10 months. Moreover, he was not given examples of the alleged violations he committed, which he noted below: 

No examples of the alleged violations were provided, of course. I guess criticizing US foreign policy, the West-backed Maidan Putsch in Ukr & Zionist Genocide in Palestine is now considered “hate speech”. I hadnt even uploaded any new videos to my @Youtube channel in 10 months!

Sleboda called attention to how geopolitics website DD Geopolitics was also shut down by YouTube on September 23:

Evidently @DD_Geopolitics was similarly censored and deleted in a purge on the very same day.

He added that “The real target of such desperate acts of censorship is YOU. It’s not me they are afraid of…it’s YOU …”

In a concluding post in his Twitter thread, Sleboda called on his supporters to continue following him on Twitter/X, Substack, and Telegram: 

If you don’t want to be thus “protected” from alternate political/geopolitical views and dissent from US Foreign Policy of Hegemony – please continue to follow me here on Twitter/X, on Substack & on Telegram. And please share my work with those who might be interested.

Sleboda was an Electronics Technician/Reactor Operator in the United States Navy from 1993-1999. He received a Bachelor’s Degree in International Relations with a minor in Political Science at the Richmond American University London in 2009. Sleboda subsequently received a Master’s in International Relations Theory at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) in 2010. 

He has an advanced grasp of the Russian language and has been a critic of US foreign policy towards Russia since the collapse of the Soviet Union. In light of these recent actions against Sleboda, YouTube should be viewed as a private appendage of the US national security state. 

There is no meaningful separation of private sector and state in the American consumer imperium.