A Canadian political commentator is fuming after his popular YouTube channel, Real Talk Politiks, was yanked offline, and he’s pointing the finger at CBC, accusing them of strong-arming YouTube into silencing him for his views.

The creator behind @realtalkpolitks says this isn’t about breaking rules—it’s about CBC flexing its state-funded muscle to crush competition it can’t keep up with.

With the channel’s takedown now making headlines, the clash is shining a harsh light on Canada’s ongoing battle over online free speech.

Here’s what we know: on May 23, 2025, YouTube removed Real Talk Politiks, a channel that had racked up nearly 70 million views in April alone, making it the most-viewed Canada-based news and politics account during much of the 2025 election.

The platform cited violations of its policies on “spam, deceptive practices and scams,” according to CBC News reporters Christian Paas-Lang, Nora Young, Jeff Yates, and Ivan Angelovski.

But @realtalkpolitks insists he didn’t break any rules. “I didn’t break any rules. No strikes. No deception. Just political commentary,” he wrote on May 26, 2025, adding that YouTube terminated his channel shortly after CBC reached out with “hit-piece questions.”

He claims CBC couldn’t handle his success: “I was pulling more views than CBC, which really bothered them.”

The CBC News piece dug into Real Talk Politiks, noting its shift from finance content to Canadian and U.S. politics, often with a conservative slant.

They highlighted videos with titles like “Canada’s Corrupt WOKE Government” and described the channel’s style as “confrontational, partisan video clips” that used AI voiceovers and featured a “humiliate, destroy” rhetoric.

@realtalkpolitks sees this as proof of CBC’s agenda. “CBC, Canada’s state-funded media just got YouTube to terminate my channel — not for breaking rules, but for having the wrong political views,” he said, calling it “censorship in Canada.”

He argues CBC went after him because they couldn’t compete. “CBC couldn’t compete with the content… so they tried to erase it,” he added.

Experts weighed in on the broader trend. Aengus Bridgman, director of the Media Ecosystem Observatory at McGill University and the University of Toronto, told CBC News that channels like Real Talk Politiks are part of a growing wave of content dominating social media.

“It’s like an interesting AI-generated, entrepreneurial brain rot, news-type combination — it’s not news. It’s not information-rich, new facts,” he said, noting concerns about users “overly consuming” this kind of material.

But @realtalkpolitks sees a darker motive, accusing CBC and YouTube of teaming up to silence dissent. “CBC and YouTube clearly don’t understand how the internet works. They think they can silence people with opposing views,” he wrote, adding, “When state media and Big Tech team up to silence a creator because of political ideology, it’s not just censorship — it’s tyranny with a smile.”

This isn’t a new fight in Canada. The 2023 Online Streaming Act (Bill C-11) has already been slammed for giving legacy media like CBC an edge, and 2024 saw another YouTuber, “The Pleb,” lose his channel after state-funded media pressure, per Rebel News.

@realtalkpolitks says CBC’s just scared of losing relevance—2024 data from Social Blade shows CBC’s YouTube videos averaging under 100,000 views, while independents like him pull millions.

“They clearly don’t understand how YouTube works with most of the audience outside Canada. But CBC — desperate for relevance — couldn’t stand that,” he said. With Canada’s government eyeing more online regulations in 2025, this takedown has creators worried about who’s next in the crosshairs.

Please leave your opinions / comments on these stories below, we appreciate your perspective!