New York Times targets Tucker Carlson, Ben Shapiro, Babylon Bee and Tim Pool over allegations of 'election misinformation'

Prominent YouTubers are getting what some are calling "threats" from The New York Times. Babylon Bee CEO Seth Dillon, The Daily Wire founder Ben Shapiro, Tucker Carlson, and Tim Pool all reported to X that they had been contacted by New York Times reporter Nico Grant.

"Good day," the messages began, "I'm Nico Grant, a reporter at The New York Times. I wanted to give you an opportunity to comment for an upcoming article that takes a look at how political commentators have discussed the upcoming election on YouTube."

"We rely on an analysis conducted by researchers at Media Matters for America," he went on. Media Matters is currently facing a lawsuit brought by Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey to force the non-profit group to turn over documents related to Bailey's investigation into fraudulent business practices. Bailey claims that Media Matters "solicited donations from Missourians under false pretenses to target X, formerly known as Twitter, in direct violation of the Missouri Merchandising Practices Act." Elon Musk's X social media platform is suing Media Matters as well, for "disparaging the platform in a report that said the site had placed ads for major brands next to extremist content."

"Could you kindly provide us with a comment or decline to comment by end of day tomorrow," Grant continues in his ask. He goes on to let the recipients know what he is planning to include in the report:

"Media Matters identified 286 YouTube videos between May and August that contained election misinformation, including narratives that have been debunked or are not supported with credible evidence. Researchers identified videos posted by you in those four months that contain election misinformation," Grant writes.

He then requests further information about the YouTuber's relationship with YouTube, asking "Are you a member of the YouTube Partner Program? If so, how frequently does YouTube demonetize your videos? Has YouTube sent you messages, emails or notices in the last year that your content contains misinformation?"

While YouTube used to have restrictions around discussing what they called "election misinformation," that was lifted as the 2024 election drew closer. 

Carlson replied to Grant: "So the New York Times is working with a left wing hate group to silence critics of the Democratic Party? Please ask yourself why you're participating in it. This is why you got into journalism? It's shameful. I hope you're filled with guilt and self-loathing for sending me a text like this. Please quote me." Grant replied asking if Carlson would like to provide answers to the questions he posed, to which Carlson wrote "Would I like to participate in your attempt to censor me? No thanks. But I do hope you'll quote what I wrote above and also note that I told you to f*ck off, which I am now doing. Thanks."

Ben Shapiro had a similar sentiment, but instead of replying directly to Grant, he put out a lengthy thread on X saying "What, precisely, is NYT doing? It's perfectly obvious: using research from Media Matters, a radical Left-wing organization whose sole purpose is destroying conservative media (see below), in order to pressure YouTube to demonetize and penalize any and all conservatives ONE WEEK FROM THE ELECTION."

"That's the entire game here. Run an article in America's 'most trusted newspaper' that declares pretty much every major conservative a purveyor of 'misinformation' on YouTube, thus strong-arming YouTube into taking action against conservatives," he continued.

As for his comment to The New York Times, it was remarkably similar to Carlson's. "So, The New York Times wants comment? Here's my comment: kindly, go f*ck yourself."

The Babylon Bee said simply "The New York Times has reached out to The Babylon Bee for comment on our election misinformation." 

Tim Pool said that Grant had reached out to him as well, and said "these are threats."

Left-leaning outlets have in recent years attempted to shame platforms into deplatforming content creators that the left-leaning outlets claim are purveyors of disinformation, misinformation, malinformation, or other ideas that the outlet doesn't like. This tactic was used to force YouTube to demonetize and deplatform Russell Brand, among others. YouTube has been susceptible to this kind of pressure in the past.