(LifeSiteNews) – Libertarian radio personality Glenn Beck was temporarily removed from Apple Podcasts this week, citing an “issue” that needed to be resolved but was never identified.
Beck, the co-founder of Blaze Media, announced Wednesday that all of his podcasts had been removed from the top audio content app without warning or explanation. He received an email stating Apple “found an issue with your show … which must be resolved,” but the link led to another page with the same copy and no elaboration on the alleged issue.
All of my podcasts have been removed from Apple/iTunes with no explanation. https://t.co/Cj4ZlzJsdk
— Glenn Beck (@glennbeck) August 16, 2023
I wonder if today’s podcast asking who the REAL crime family is had something to do with this apparent censorship by Apple?
THIS is why I built Blaze Media.
You can still find the show now @BlazeTV. pic.twitter.com/RQPcQOUBbR
— Glenn Beck (@glennbeck) August 16, 2023
Inside Radio reported that 1,915 of the more than 3,000 shows uploaded to the platform have already been restored, and that an Apple spokesman claims an unidentified third party filed a trademark dispute, which Apple claims Beck’s representatives were alerted to on July 22 but never answered.
I want to thank everyone (on the left, right and everyone in between) who spoke up today. I wish I had better answers from Apple on what happened, but you gave me hope that the issue of censorship is still bigger than politics.
— Glenn Beck (@glennbeck) August 16, 2023
However, Beck says more than a thousand episodes still have not been restored as of August 16, and the exact nature of what happened remains unclear. On Thursday, he said he was “not going to get into the weeds over this,” but expressed skepticism that a trademark issue could explain the removal of so much content. He did say he was informed of one trademark dispute over one episode in late June, but it was resolved within hours.
“Yesterday is a prime example, where I learned firsthand why the Blaze is so important,” Beck said. “I learned the power of these middlemen. If you’re a conservative, the threat of deplatforming is always there. Even in the background. Like the sword of Damocles, this is why we built the Blaze. I’m not going to have a sword over my head.”
One of the world’s top computer and smart device manufacturers whose iPod audio players and iTunes media management interface were instrumental in the rise of podcasts, Apple has grown increasingly more biased against conservative users since CEO Tim Cook replaced the late co-founder Steve Jobs at the company’s helm.
Current Apple leadership’s left-wing sensibilities have included indulging gender-fluid ideology with “pregnant man” emojis, facilitating interstate abortion travel for employees, and reducing advertising on Twitter/X after its purchase by free-speech advocate Elon Musk, who began reforming the platform last year.