In defense of free speech: A conversation with Suzi Abdel-Malak Mavrommati

Added: 2026-05-28

[00:00:00]Good morning and uh welcome to I don't know what to call this because it's not the Russia house. It's not uh any of the normal podcast. It is a special program that uh I'm doing today on behalf of a special person, a good friend of mine and a fellow independent journalist um Susie Abdul Malaki Mroi if I >> pardon >> Abd Malik. I look, I barely speak English, let alone anything else. But but I call her Susie or just Yes, ma'am.

[00:00:33]when we speak. She uh she run or she runs a uh a podcast, Unfiltered with Sam. Um and um I've been on it several times. We've had some fascinating uh geopolitical discussions from a unique perspective. uh uh a perspective of the Eastern Mediterranean, a perspective of Cyprus, a perspective of Lebanon, of Greece, uh but also of the world. Uh and it's it's a worldly uh podcast that uh you know, again, I'm very honored that I get to invite on to speak and I think that the messaging that goes through this podcast is messaging that should be heard by as many people as possible, which brings us to why Susie and I are talking today on this platform. you've been um suppressed. I guess you have a a very successful uh show or a show that was becoming more successful. Um and there's a suppression taking place and you know for American audience and this will go out to largely an American audience um suppression of freedom of speech is the death of our society. Um we thrive on really one thing and one thing only which is the freedom to express ourselves. That's what separates us from many other nations. And here you are, somebody who is doing a very valuable job. Um, and you're getting your your message suppressed. And so, um, that's why I thought it was important that, um, you and I have this conversation so other people hear. So, let's just start out. Please tell the audience about yourself and about, um, about your podcast. Uh, you know, who are you and what are you trying to accomplish with your with your podcast?

[00:02:14]Scott. Well, good morning to you. Good afternoon from Cyprus. I don't in any way I didn't in any way want to sound disrespectful for you. The only reason why I corrected you my last name is because I'm also half Lebanese and half Greek. just a slight um u an addition of a vowel at the end of malak which malak means uh king as you might know in Arabic but in Greek the malaka that you said is actually that's why I had to correct you >> well there we go >> yes I don't want you to disrespectful so yes my my my Greek side kicked in I'm like no no no I'm not that >> so my apologies >> no no I apolog I apologize. I apologize.

[00:02:59]Yeah.

[00:02:59]>> So, um a few words um about uh me first.

[00:03:05]As you said, I am a half well I am half cpriate, half Lebanese, born and raised, shuttling between um Cyprus as a refugee from the occupied north, but also uh born and raised shutling as I said between Cypress and um civil war uh Beirut at the time. Uh >> can I interrupt? You said occupied north. I don't think um many Americans will understand what you mean by that.

[00:03:31]Could you explain what occupied north means?

[00:03:34]>> Uh in 1974 there was uh an invasion of the island, the northern part by by the by the Turkish military forces. They occupied and it's been 52 years now. is still under occupation by Turkish military forces and um uh uh a third of the population of Greek criates became refugees in their own country and we ended up uh living in the rest of the island. Uh 38% of the island is under occupation and uh that's what I meant by that.

[00:04:08]>> Okay, thank you.

[00:04:10]>> Uh I was born and raised to love western ideals. Western ideals of freedom of speech um of um inquiry. Very important because in order to have freedom of speech I believe uh you need to also have freedom of inquiry because if people just talk talk talk without um um knowing things and being able to sub substantiate things and having access now to those kind of information is very important. then it's just uh people uh yapping about for nothing. Um growing up I uh ended up getting accepted to study at a prestigious institution in the United States that being Stanford University.

[00:04:56]My four years there were transformative.

[00:05:00]I love them. Not a day goes by when I don't think and reminisce of my time at Stanford, but not just at Stanford. But um I traveled the whole US during my four years there. I met people and um personalities that I wouldn't have if I had stayed in my region and studied in my region. Um so I reminisce fondly those days. I reminisce my professors, my friends and um everyone I met along the way. I traveled the the length and breadth of the country. It's a beautiful country. It's a beautiful land and back then in the mid to late 90s. It was wonderful. I mean the freedom of speech, freedom of expression, freedom of inquiry was something that was um that was not challenged as now. It was um free to practice and encouraged to do so. add um well to our matter at hand right now. Um the channel and filtered the stamp. I created it around a year and a half ago.

[00:06:07]I uh it was at a time when um I wanted to honor the memory of my dad.

[00:06:13]My dad is the Lebanese part of me who had passed a few years prior. And at the time things were unfolding in Lebanon.

[00:06:23]It was the end of 2024 uh right before the the ceasefire. So the war was happening with Israel at the time and I was I I just wanted to uh I said I'm just going to do this even if it's just me my own echo chamber. I just need to have a way to to to put out information and whatever happens going to happen. And I am very very thankful to you because at the time I just I had just set up a YouTube account. I I knew of you. I was following you and um I was lucky enough I don't know if this is still uh freely available but I was lucky enough to just with a simple online search find your email and I emailed you and I said hey this is me. This is a little background about me. This is what I'm I'm planning to do. I have Zillow followers. would you honor me to be my first guest on the channel? And this I will never ever forget. You immediately responded. It wasn't even 24 hours passed and you were my inaugural guest and um things took their course from then you know um you come on the channel every two two and a half months and we have our talks and I'm very grateful to you for that for giving me that opportunity. Um I'll never forget it. So when I formed it a year and a half ago, uh we've reached a point now the channel well it's a onew woman show but no we uh with no sponsors no marketing agency no paid promotions it has grown entirely organically to more than 30,000 followers across three platforms Scott approximately 11 and a half thousand on YouTube 13100 on X and 6,800 on Tik Tok.

[00:08:11]Now what encourages me most is that the largest segment of the channel's audience is America. To me that confirms something that I believe from the very beginning in my gut when I formed this and I said if it's just me it's fine but I said if this is going to work I don't want it to be addressed to draw in viewers from my part of the world. We know what's happening here. I wanted to draw the interest of viewers from the US primarily and the rest of the English speaking world uh secondarily and that happened and I'm saying I'm telling you this happened without sponsors, no marketing, no paid promotion. It seems the algorithm picked it up and promoted it to such an audience. So Americans, it proved to me that Americans are hungry for information that speaks directly to them, but comes from people who actively um live in the regions being discussed.

[00:09:11]They want regional perspective, local insight, and that's the mission of the channel. All the guests are um US well-known personalities like yourself, but the questions that are set are set from a regional perspective.

[00:09:28]question that I know you appear on the biggest u uh online channels. I I I I am of the humble opinion that most of the questions that are said to you by me are possibly questions that are not said to you by other western podcasters.

[00:09:45]Correct.

[00:09:46]>> Look, when I'm on your show, you I'm just a simple, you know, former Marine. I'm not the most complex person in the world. I'm not a Harvard trained mind or anything like that. I'm just somebody who has a world experience. Um, and I go on a lot of shows and I get a lot of questions and you know I I respect every show that I go on and I respect every person that uh that I that I speak with that interviews me. But you're you're right. Uh when you interview with an American host um it's literally the same questions over and over. Even though it's a different host, it's the same question over and over and over and over again. When I go on with you, it's u intellectually challenging and stimulating because you ask me questions that require me to dig into parts of my brain that others don't require me to dig into. uh you know I'm I'm now required to uh you know not just speak from an American perspective but to be knowledgeable of uh regional realities and such and uh and of course you're very polite but you oftentimes uh remind me of a regional reality that uh that that that exists and it it makes the answers and makes the conversation that's the important thing too when I when I speak with you it's it's not a question answer it's a conversation we have a conversation about issues and you know nobody's out to one up the other or a gotcha moment. It's uh it's an honest to goodness in-depth conversation, a question driven, but a conversation about the complexities of the region that you live in that impact the United States. So, yeah. Um look, there when you reached out, I I was uh I was touched by your story and I I was like, why not why not why not have this conversation? But, you know, I I've done that a number of times. And I have to be honest, I don't go back usually because, you know, it's it's just not um it's got to be something that pursues not just the truth, but in an interesting way um in a compelling way.

[00:11:45]And after your after our discussion, I mean, I actually sat back and reflected.

[00:11:50]I that was one of the most intellectually rewarding discussions I've had in a long time because of my background. You know, my background, I grew up in Turkey.

[00:11:57]And um I I was just I found it refreshing and uh so when you said when I come every time you ask me to come on your show, I do my best to come on your show because but I also know that when I come on your show, I better have my act together that uh my prep better be uh more uh more in-depth because I'm going to be challenged by questions. Uh you don't you're not a softball artist.

[00:12:18]You're not your job isn't to feed me pitches to have me hit them over the wall. your job is to have a very challenging, thought-provoking conversation about the issues of the day. So, uh yeah, you um what you do is unique and I uh I applaud you for it.

[00:12:34]>> Well, thank you for that. Uh the channel is actually the only English- speakaking woman-ledd geopolitical interview channel, actually the largest of its kind in the Eastern Mediterranean and Middle East. the largest geopolitical interview channel that's led by women English speaking. So um I have to also thank you for that because the reason it's achieved that is because of uh people like you who place their trust in me anytime I make an outreach and say uh would you like to come back on and there are new developments we need to analyze.

[00:13:07]So I have to thank you for that and for placing your trust in me >> but you earned it. You I mean let's just be clear about this. Yes, you you know, but a million people have people like me on their shows, you know. Um, it takes an artist, an intellectual artist to turn a guest into an experience. And I I feel that every time you and I have a conversation, it's an experience. It's not just uh it's not just yet another repetitive regurgitation of questions and answers. It's an experience. As I said, every time I finish talking with you, I have to take pause and and go, "Wow, that was uh that was interesting.

[00:13:48]That was unique." So, um, no, I mean, yes, guests are important, but the most important element of a podcast is the host, and you're you're the one who made your pro podcast a success. You deserve all the credit.

[00:14:00]>> Thank you. Thank you for that. Just as a side note, I must uh make a confession.

[00:14:06]Even though I am from the region so one would think that the questions would come naturally to me questions that are region based or lo locally based still I because of what you said this intellectual stimulation that you get every time we talk I devote two full days 48 hours of just researching researching and prepping for my questions even though I am based here I know what's happening but I want to make sure that what I put down as context leading to the question is all correctly and soundly based and if it's not then I will say um things that back it up if it's not universally you know accepted uh so there's a lot of research and prep that goes into every interview on my channel >> and you're very >> and you're very demanding too you're very demanding of your host of your guests um >> the first time I talked with you you um you weren't satisfied with some of my answers about uh Turkish Greek relations and you you gave me a reading assignment uh Christopher Hitchens book >> and um and and you're holding me to account because I still haven't read the book and uh but I will but I I I'm just saying as a as an aside you're you do your homework, you do your prep and you also you are demanding of your guests that they um that they do their homework too. So, I promise you I will read the book and we will have an in-depth conversation on Christopher Hitch's views of the region.

[00:15:40]>> The point the reason I'm like this um I that I want to put out questions that are Americans don't hear regurgitated on every podcaster that they go and listen when they try to look you up or they try to look Conor McGregor up or John Kiriaku up is because of this because my target audience is the American audience. I want them to learn new angles and perspectives on the same issues that they are following. So that's why and I I I hope I offer this to them. I understand from your feedback that I do and thank you.

[00:16:14]>> No, it's great. But now what what's happened to you? I mean here here you are this great success. Yeah. And then um >> you know it's almost like you're an American being suppressed by uh American social media. Here you are in uh in Cyprus and um you're having this great success and suddenly what happened?

[00:16:34]>> So c can I have like five six minutes just to give the cont it's your floor do it. So what's happening, Scott, is that over the past few months, I'd say around 10 10 weeks, anyways, few months, the channel has experienced what can only be described as a dramatic collapse in distribution on the order of of roughly um 90 90%.

[00:16:58]What makes this difficult to understand is that the guests, the topics and the style of of the interviews remains unchanged. In fact, uh the decline accelerated after the channel crossed the 10,000 subscriber milestone on YouTube. Uh a point at which creators are generally uh told that um YouTube has um now has greater confidence in your channel and will begin broadening distribution rather than reducing it. So the first um major warning sign came with my interviews with John Giri in January. My interview with John reached uh slightly more than two million uh people in reach and that generated almost 116,000 views with a click-through rate of appro approximately 5.8%. Then two months later in March after the channel had crossed the 10,000 subscriber mark of of YouTube. I hosted John again and the March interview was shown only to 663,000 people. That's roughly a third of the January's reach. yet it generated uh approximately 65,600 views which is 56% of January's viewership while the clickthrough rate rose from 5.8% to 10.

[00:18:10]So in other words one in March onethird of January's reach more than half of January's views and nearly double January's uh click-through rate. So uh this was the first moment I began asking myself whether something unusual was happening. You know, then came what I believe was a turning point. In late March, I published a 13minute monologue.

[00:18:33]It's the rare occasions that I don't host someone. I I think I've only done this a couple of times. It was a 13-minute monologue about Lebanon. It was the end of March. The Israeli operations were well underway again. So, I deliberately though avoided mentioning two words that are like red flags for algorithms. I really avoided mentioning the words Israel, Zionism or um words connected to them. So the monologue focused entirely on Lebanon itself, its historical uh civilizational, cultural, religious significance to the world within roughly 90 minutes of publication of upload. The video showed the strongest signs of organic growth that I had ever seen on the channel. The graph was vertical.

[00:19:18]Everything about the uh trajectory suggested it was on course to become the strongest performing video uh that the channel had ever released. Then suddenly distribution stopped. The graph flatlined and at that point the video had accumulated roughly 2 and a half thousand views from around 5,100 um reach impressions. This is an extraordinary click-through rate approaching 50%. But what happened after distribution stopped is that the video remained online but unless someone already had the direct link it effectively vanished from public view.

[00:19:53]So and ever since uh the barrier of that Lebanon monologue the reduction in outreach has become even more severe. So two weeks ago beginning of May I released another interview with John. He was in Cyprus. I was hosting him for sick days. He had come here for a conference. He was going to speak in Lemiso but I hosted him in the casia for six days and I organized those so important meetings for him and I hosted him in the studio my first in studio guest which I hope to be able to do with you also sometime soon compared now with his January interview YouTube reduced the reach of this May interview to roughly 10% of what it had been in January. Yet the engagement metrics were again stronger than January's. The interview generated a 10% clickthrough rate and an average view duration of 37%. For those who know for long on long form content, these are exceptionally strong metrics. So in other words, a 10th of January's reach, double January's clickthrough rate, and a phenomenally strong 37% average view duration.

[00:20:58]And at that point, I decided to test something. And I thought if organic distribution is being restricted, surely I can use YouTube's own paid promotion system, which I've never done before.

[00:21:10]But I said, I mean, I need to if it's if if I need to pay to get reach secured, let me just do it because after all, if uh I'm willing to pay YouTube to promote a video, then YouTube should be happy to distribute it, right? So how I tested it though I I um I selected a completely non geopolitical interview which I which I had performed back in December right before the holidays right before Christmas. I said I don't want to tire people with the geopolitics. Let me offer them something educational. So that interview that I chose to promote now in May was with a professor from Athens discussing how democracy function in ancient Greece and how modern political systems compare with those historical models. That promotion request was um re rejected by YouTube.

[00:22:06]The reason given to me via their automated response system was that the video allegedly constituted election advertising in both the United States and Israel. So I couldn't believe what I was reading. I couldn't believe it. And that it's it's on purpose that I chose that video to promote because alarm bells started ringing for me with this oppression reach. So I mean anyway what begs to question now with that rejection is that it raises a simple question to me if discussions merely I mean what's going to happen when creators actually start discussing the upcoming 426 elections in the US and in Israel when I was given this reason for um and mind you all my all my interviews all my videos have received the green check mark by YouTube uh that they satis satisfy YouTube's all all these things that they you know they are not racial they're not um they don't contain cuss words they are not um antidiersist so if YouTube green check marks on my videos for upload for monetization on their part so that ads can pay why the same videos they don't approve them for promotion on my end for me to give them money to increase the reach that they are suppressing >> well I These are these are fair questions and I will tell you that your experience mirrors that of many YouTube um people who use YouTube as a platform to uh get their ideas uh distributed.

[00:23:44]Uh, I mean, YouTube has together with other social media outlets in the United States have long suppressed any um content that uh challenges the official narrative of USIsraeli relations. Um, if you were cheerleading for Israel, YouTube would promote your videos. Your YouTube would help you distribute your videos. Um, you're probably receiving phone calls from um, agents affiliated with YouTube on how to better um, you know, shape your your pro. This I know this because this was my experience when I first started with YouTube. We um, you know, we we we put Ask the Inspector um, on YouTube and it it was it the same thing. I again I I I'm not um you know I can't I'm not conversational on clickth through and things of that nature. Um that I that's why I have people smarter than me helping me out. Um but I do know that uh suddenly we were successful and YouTube was paying attention and YouTube was uh sending agents our way um to help shape the program and push them. But one of the things that happened is as they promoted it and everything, they came back and said, "Well, we love what you're doing. You're going to be a great hit." You know, boom, but we need to talk about some of your content and all that. And I went, "Really? Talk about some of my content? Don't you understand what Ask the Inspector is? They ask, I answer. That's it." Um and and that began the problem because when I began to push back on content control, um suddenly not only did support from YouTube drop off, uh but then they ended up cancing the channel, banning me from from YouTube alto together. Um and I've I've come back, but um you know, I'm I'm not as brave this time. I I do my uh Ritter's rant and I put that on YouTube.

[00:25:46]Um, and I say what I want, but they, you know, they, one of my videos, they took off completely because it was, uh, aggressive towards uh, Israel. So, YouTube is a suppression agent. They're they're an agent of suppression. Um, what YouTube is very good at is is luring content creators into the platform because, let's be honest, it's one of the most effective platforms for getting your message out there. When YouTube works, YouTube works. Um it's also useful for content creators because it does provide a monetization factor that helps you know sustain um you know the work but then what happens is you become sort of beholden to YouTube. You you need their the views you need the money you not the money but you you know you need the pro and then they they seek to control you and and if they can't control you they suppress you. And I think what you're what you're experiencing is what many American uh you know YouTubers experience is the suppression aspect of it. And it's a suppression aspect that is uh controlled by the state of Israel. Look it, this isn't speculation. We've heard the prime minister of Israel in the United States say, "We will suppress you. We will suppress you if you do this." We know that YouTube hires former Israeli intelligence operatives to come in and oversee their content. Their content review is done by people who promote a very pro-Israeli outlook and who are have been involved in the past in the business of shutting down any voices of disscent. Um they're very aggressive about it. They're they're extremely aggressive about it. The good news is you're still on YouTube. They haven't shut you down. Um, which is why I think it's useful here, uh, to have you on to talk. Um, you know, I'm hoping that this video is viewed by a lot of people who maybe hadn't been exposed to your work before and will want to know about your work and so they're going to click on.

[00:27:44]One of the things YouTube's doing to you right now is making sure nobody knows where to click so nobody can find you.

[00:27:49]Um, hopefully after this we will have people finding you and seeking you out and we're going to reverse engineer the pressure on YouTube using brute force to get people to pay attention so they can't suppress you. Um, and and then I mean this, you know, there's risks of that come with that because YouTube may decide then that you're a real threat and that you have to be shut down completely. Um, but the the good news is that you have a a very compelling story and compelling product.

[00:28:21]Uh, the bad news is YouTube is suppressing you. The good news is uh that we the people because you're you're speaking to an American audience. You said that's your primary. So we the people of the United States of America, you know, we we formed a a a constitutional republic and we have a constitution and the first amendment of our constitution is freedom of speech and we believe in free speech and we support those people whose free speech is being suppressed. And so I'm hoping that as many people as possible who are out there who support free speech will say this is a cause worth supporting and uh and come to you and um you know and help get your message out and um and help promote the work you're doing because your work is extremely important. I wouldn't keep going back on your show if I didn't think your work was important. Um I mean I I I'm mean to say it but you know there's only 24 hours a day. there's only so much you can do in a day and um there's a lot that that needs to be done and what people want and and yet when you contact me I always find the time because it's not just you're not just a a nice person and a you know and all that you actually contribute to the larger cause of you know promoting ideas that could lead to a better world and better peace. So, I I think it's essential that people find out about you and people um support you and and and again, use the brute force of we the people to override whatever YouTube is doing to restrict access to your to your show. Well, I I I hope that's the case because as I told you the other day when I I had no idea that you would want to talk about this publicly when I called you up and I said, "Scott, um I need to talk to you because anyway, I feel I can talk to you because you're the first person who believed in me and I'm facing this problem. I don't know how to handle it."

[00:30:14]And um why you're saying that you've come back on the show is my concern is like right now I'm embarrassed. like the Conor McGregor interview I put up last week, it's barely a,300 views. It's at a 90% suppression in reach. So my my concern now is how long will SC want to be coming on? Of course I I I know you, but I'm talking about >> the other guest if if the views keep being so low because the reach is suppressed to a severe extent, then you know they're going to what's going to happen? I'm no longer going to be get, you know, getting guests on the show.

[00:30:52]>> Well, I mean, I understand your perspective. My perspective is um if if a guest is going on your show uh simply because of your click-through rate, not because of the quality of your content, then that's probably not the right guest. But that's, you know, I I but that's just me. I uh I I I don't understand the business of online. If I did, I might be more successful. Um, I just I I do what I do and if people watch it, they watch it. If they don't, they don't. I I look, I'm I'm the kind of guy that I can go on, you know, Judge Npalitano show uh and and have a and have a conversation and millions of people are going to watch it >> and then do my own conversation and 10,000 people watch it. So, clearly I have a marketing problem of my own. So, I, you know, it but I go on your show not because of clicks or anything. I go on your show because of the quality of the content and the intellectual experience. It's a it's a good experience. Um you know I don't have the answer and I'm not a you know but there are other people out there who um who have been suppressed uh on YouTube um and they found other ways to go um you know an idea. Have you thought about setting up a Substack page and uh putting your your content out on Substack? Um, you know, as a as a subscriptionbased uh uh service because you could do the same thing, still put it out on YouTube, but if you create a Substack page, um, YouTube can't suppress that. It's it's unsuppressible.

[00:32:23]Uh, it's the same content getting out to a to an audience that can grow exponentially. And if pe if you do it as a um you know if you do it as a free subscription but the option to do a paid subscription uh you'll be surprised how many people will say this is quality content and then they will you know pay you to reward you for your work. But there's other things that can be done if YouTube is if if you can't you know defeat the YouTube u suppression through reasoning which again with the pro-Israeli crowd controlling it you can't reason with them. Um, you know, there's other ways to use the same product and get a broader audience. You deserve the broadest possible audience.

[00:33:06]That's the uh that's the thing.

[00:33:08]>> I'll consider it. I just wanted to mention two other things that I forgot to mention. Um, I I do do not use inflammatory language. I do not insult.

[00:33:18]And um that's why it makes the situation harder for me to understand because when I look around YouTube and I find really famous American podcasters using really harsh language, language I never myself use. I mean mainly openly describe Israeli policies and officials using extremely strong language. Sometimes in anger, sometimes in frustration, but occasionally even using exploitives like chen of the young Turks. I understand where he's coming from. He's he is of the same mindset like me, but the way he he presents him his thoughts is not the way that I present my thoughts yet. I mean, is is YouTube selectively suppressing then the anti-Israel um I mean whether one agrees with with those commentators or me or not is beside the point. The point is that my channel isn't doing any of that and I don't use inflammatory language. I don't hurdle insults yet I'm being severely suppressed. And um I don't know if you want to say something about that because I want to mention something else that I I I I noticed that they did and which is very important for me to put out.

[00:34:20]>> Let me just before just to add on what you said and I and I and I'll say this another one of the things that impressed me was um uh you invited me on once to talk about Turkish issues and um I know about your background and I also know about the background of many people in your eye. the respect that you showed to somebody who because I know you don't agree with me on some of my positions on T, but we had one of the most respectful conversations that never u you know went into name calling and shouting and all that. We listened, we discussed, it was polite, it was it was you know intellectually based. Um and and there's a value to that because you're speaking to somebody who on occasion loses his temper, uh uses bad language and u and does all the things. Uh I I don't mean to do it. It's just who I am. But you um again that you're a quality person um who has not just the intellectual capacity to discuss complex issues, but you also have the a sound moral foundation that allows for differences of opinion to be expressed in a respectful manner. Um why does YouTube allow, you know, somebody like Jen to to have a platform and suppress yours?

[00:35:46]because he's too big to kill >> the the the political problems that would occur. So, I think what YouTube does is they they send they they seek to destroy upand cominging uh podcasters uh because of their potential. If you became popular, you'd be very dangerous um to the pro-Israeli elements that are, you know, that fear you. And I think that's what YouTube does. They go around because as you mentioned they have that 10,000 mark. Below 10,000 you can do anything you want. Anything you want.

[00:36:21]You click into 10,000 suddenly you get the attention of a corporation and the corporation comes in and starts evaluating you on your potential as a business proposition but also uh as a content. Um and your content scares them. That's the problem. Which means you're doing something right. Your content scares YouTube. So, they're trying to destroy you so that you don't become as big as the others who get away with literal verbal murder on uh on YouTube on a daily basis. The quality of their their programming is not good um as good as yours. The intellectual uh discussions aren't good. They do clickbait cheap stuff um and they succeed because they're just too big. Uh I think YouTube's suppressing you because they fear you and uh they fear you because you're providing a unique program, a unique perspective. Um and they can't allow that to go forward. So in a way you should be proud of what you're doing, you know, because you're because you got YouTube upset. That means you're doing something right.

[00:37:26]>> Um I also wanted to mention another shocking realization regarding the suppression. two weeks ago while checking the uh the analytics for this latest John Giri interview uh the same interview I just mentioned that had been reduced to roughly 10% of it of the reach of it of its January counterpart I was in the back office of the channel as we say watching the analytics and I watched views disappear in front of my eyes Scott over roughly 35 minutes 600 views that were counted for were removed I must point out that this wasn't this Jonaku interview was never a live stream where the numbers fluctuate was not a live stream. It wasn't a premiere. It was a standard uploaded interview that had actually just been uploaded roughly half or half a day earlier, a day prior.

[00:38:21]So, and the views being removed appear to originate primarily from what YouTube classifies as external traffic sources.

[00:38:31]People arriving from other platforms. In my case, arriving from X. So, if 600 views were removed within just 35 minutes, I can only imagine how many thousands may have been removed before or after. And my I don't know, my question is why would they do that? And don't they consider viewers coming in from other platforms as legitimate viewers? Why would YouTube not welcome viewers coming from another platform onto use YouTube to watch content hosted on YouTube and staying on YouTube?

[00:39:03]Because isn't that what they want to bring in people to have people come from other platforms and stay on their platform and yet their views get removed? happened in front of Maya >> again because they don't want your message to be seen by others and it gives them the opportunity to to control indirectly other platforms because think what just happened uh people on X um who were going to because you know I I I do it all the time when when I do a video I you know I put it out on Telegram on X on on my and on X >> on X people will click it and jump in And when you look at the uh numbers, there's a large uh you know, I I I every once in a while I get a one of the things I like about Substack is that they'll they'll come back with a little report. You know, where are most of your uh your views coming from, you know, YouTube or from X or so they'll tell you the platform that you're attracting your views? Um and and that's one way to grow an audience. It's a very effective way to grow an audience. And um but this gives YouTube the opportunity to throttle other platforms as well through indirect suppression or direct suppression but you know indirect throttling. So again if I were you yes you have every right to be concerned about it. It is alarming but I would also chuckle because you're um you're making somebody in YouTube work overtime to suppress you because they fear you because they fear your message. because they are concerned about your programming. Um, and you know that you're not doing anything wrong. Why would they fear, as you said, why would they fear a conversation with an Athenian scholar about the birth of democracy? Uh, because they don't want to have that kind of conversation the time when they're preparing for ha perhaps uh the um suppression of democracy here in America with an election uh coming up. Um, who knows?

[00:40:57]that there YouTube has an algorithm right now that's not driven by you know I think we all acknowledge that uh you know social media platforms have a right to and a duty to monitor content to make sure that they're not promoting um criminal activity um and and and and and that's good. So, I'm not against uh a a a company making sure that their platform is not being used for for criminal purposes, but if you're an American company and you are promoting a um a public space uh for communication of ideas, um you need to respect all ideas.

[00:41:43]And again, it's not as though you're, the last time I checked, you didn't have a Nazi flag in your background and you aren't, you know, promoting, you know, racism and all this stuff. Uh, just the opposite. You're promoting intellectual discourse. It's not as though you're promoting hate or things designed to divide a society. You're you're you're promoting the things that make society grow. Um, in-depth conversation about the issues of the day from differing perspectives. Um, but you'd probably succeed if you were promoting hate. Um, I don't know why they would allow that to happen, but because hate is a very narrow-minded spectrum of people that the the growth potential, they're controllable. You're threatening them because your ideas have the potential to be broadstream, broad spectrum, approach, big audiences that will have an impact on the things that because why is YouTube suppressing it?

[00:42:40]They're suppressing it on instructions from Israel. We know this. Benjamin Netanyahu has said this. It's not this isn't speculation. And we know that Israeli intelligence suppresses actively globally. But we also know that Israel now has infiltrated the very ranks of YouTube and other social media platforms. The people who are monitoring the content content control are people who have almost universally Israeli intelligence backgrounds. They spent their job in the Israeli Defense Forces throttling down social media using the tools available to Israeli intelligence.

[00:43:19]And now they have embedded themselves in American companies suppressing free speech.

[00:43:26]You know, this is a this is an area that the Supreme Court has said is ripe for consideration. But at the moment, the current interpretation of free speech laws is, you know, because the the First Amendment speaks about Congress shall not pass any laws to suppress. Um, you know, that doesn't mean that, you know, the owner of a private company can't make the rules. Um but when the private company creates a platform that has uh so much power and influence over the public in terms of uh public discourse um you know it's time for the Supreme Court to understand that um it you it's not just Congress anymore. Back when the the the first amendment was written uh you know Congress had the the ability unilaterally to control you know speech.

[00:44:14]today, you know, we have corporations that have tremendous clout X, um, YouTube, uh, others.

[00:44:23]And what we've done is we're allowing corporations to control free speech in America, literally, to control free speech, to throttle free speech. And we need to challenge that. We need to push back, which is why I've invited you here today to tell people about yourself, about your your platform, and about the the the circumstances you find yourself under. And I would encourage everybody to uh to follow you. Um could you tell people how to follow you? Not just about your YouTube channel, but you're on X, you're how how can an audience follow you? And we'll make sure that uh we we we get that information out there.

[00:44:57]>> Excellent. Thank you. Thank you for that. So on that, if you would if you Scott's followers would like to help out, Scott has will kindly agree to place in the description box below the interview links to the channel's YouTube and X counts. It's unfiltered with Sam Sab in capitals. Uh but uh it it would be better if Scott also provides direct links in the description box along with uh a link to the Lebanon monologue uh 30 minute video that appears to have marked the beginning of this collapse in outreach. So please take a moment uh after the interview to follow the channel on both X and YouTube. It takes just a few seconds please. But it makes an enormous difference because and also if you subscribe on YouTube most importantly activate the notification bell other you'll become just a ghost follower who never uh gets uh notified on on new drops or new interviews clips or shorts. So make sure you activate it but then watch the Lebanon monologue.

[00:46:03]like it, comment it, share it around because every interaction, it helps break through the suppression of the uh channel's um reach because if this channel is going to overcome the algorithmic wall placed in front of it right now, it won't happen because the algorithm has changed its mind all of a sudden. It will happen because people like you, truth seekers, decide to help other people find out about the channel.

[00:46:32]And again, I want to emphasize this point. Free speech isn't free, meaning that we have to earn it. We have to fight for it. Um, and you know, challenges are put in front of us. We we fought a revolution to uh to preserve the god-given right of free speech. And here we have man seeking to remove this right, to suppress this right. Um, we're only if if one individual is allowed to be suppressed, all individuals can be suppressed and will be suppressed. uh we have to fight for free speech wherever we see it being suppressed. This is why historically I've spoken up for you know like the UHura group um you know when they were when they were uh attacked by the United States the black nationalist movement um you know it's not as though I I I sat there and every day I I talked about black nationalism. I didn't. Um I learned a lot about them. I learned to respect them. Um there's many of their ideas that I don't agree with. Uh, but what I do agree is that they have a right to say them and they have a right to express them. And when the United States government was seeking to suppress them, they were seeking to suppress me and everybody else. Uh, when YouTube is seeking to suppress you, they're seeking to suppress all of us.

[00:47:42]And therefore, this is a fight worth fighting. This is a cause worth supporting. Not only because she actually has a great product, a very good product that's compelling and it's challenging and intellectually satisfying, but because if they can suppress Suzie, they can suppress everybody. And we can't allow this to happen. This is a battle worth fighting.

[00:48:03]So, please uh click on subscribe um support uh Sus's work and um let's help win one for the cause of free speech.

[00:48:13]And I hope that um I hope this helps. I hope this conversation uh appeals to people and u I wish you the the the greatest success and I look forward to your next invitation to come on uh on your show.

[00:48:26]>> Thank you Scott. Thank you for um having me on. For once the tables have turned and it's the first time I've answered questions rather than pose them.

[00:48:36]Well, hopefully I I I learned a little bit from you and I did an okay job as an interviewer. But uh thank you very much for for coming on and uh you >> did a fantastic job. Let me tell you also something else before we close.

[00:48:48]>> This this this freedom of speech thing runs in my blood. My Lebanese grandfather um Abdul Malik, he was a lawyer by education, but he was a newspaper publisher, a shame, and he was um publishing antivi articles. As you know, Lebanon was uh under the French and he was repeatedly warned to stop to have his newspapers stop publishing antivi articles because Lebanon was under the vishi regime during World War II. He refused to do that vehemently. he continued publishing antibi she articles and um the only way he stopped was when he got note that he was going to be arrested where he didn't get notified formally because we are um one of the oldest Jews families in Lebanon. We we happen to have we always had uh someone in the government or even being part of the government. Anyway, he had a cousin.

[00:49:43]He was in the government. He told him, "Listen, Assad, they're going to come after you. They're going to arrest you tonight." So that's how he stopped. He fled the country to escape his imminent arrest or else he would have still continued publishing his anti vishi articles and we know what happened to the vichi regime. So uh we have to speak the truth even if the truth my truth might be different to someone else's truth. We have to all be allowed to put out our truth in a respectful manner though never in an and and an in insightful manner and in language that's not correct you know. So uh and then let people have freedom of inquiry and then let people decide.

[00:50:25]>> Absolutely. Freedom of speech, freedom of choice, freedom. Um thank you very much for for sharing your story and uh for coming on today and like I said, I I hope that this reaches as many people as possible and that this uh serves as sort of a rallying cry for the defense of free speech. And um I look forward to uh talking to you in the future and um keep keep me appraised. I mean since you follow the uh the algorithms and the clickthroughs and all that. Let's let's see if this uh >> let me know if this had any positive impact. I'd really I'd be interested in that.

[00:50:57]>> Yes, I'll let you know. Thank you, Scott.

[00:50:59]>> Okay. Thank you very much.