A PRO-Palestine comedian has claimed his YouTube channel has suddenly been removed "with no due process".
Irish satirist and activist Tadhg Hickey said his account was suspended on Thursday with no prior warning.
He said that the reason given for the account removal was that he had "expressed support for criminal or terrorist organisations", which he denies.
"There was no pre-warning, there were no raps on the knuckles, I didn't have my page demonetised, there were no videos that were flagged as problematic," Hickey told The National.
Hickey said he believes his account was banned because he consistently advocates for Palestine – adding that this does not equate to support for Hamas.
"From what I gather, I think my page has just been mass reported," he said. "It's almost funny, the audacity of it."
The Cork comic continued: "These sort of things only seem to happen to loud, vocal supporters of the Palestinian cause.
"I've been very strong with my anti-Israel rhetoric, but I know my own heart, and I know that I haven't strayed into anti-Semitism and I haven't strayed into any other form of racism.
"I completely, unequivocally stand with the [Palestinian] resistance, but I have never mentioned support for any proscribed group."
Hickey told The National that "at the end of the day, I'm not a military commander in a proscribed group, I'm a fucking comedian".
He added: "It's the most heinous, in my opinion, example of the fact that free speech doesn't actually exist at all."
Hickey said that the removal of his account has impacted on his livelihood, adding: "I had a moment yesterday, I've got a partner and I've got three kids, and there's a reality there.
"At what point would you say, 'ok, I have to bow out now because the powers that be are eradicating any avenue to make money at all'?
"But the activist in me, the compassionate part of me, knows that I would be giving in.
"At this moment in time, I'm unbowed and unbroken by the experience, and I want to challenge YouTube to provide evidence as to why it was appropriate to take my page down."
The comic is planning to appeal against the decision, saying he plans to fight back against what he called "censorship".
"I have Palestinian friends who've had their accounts shut down for just posting videos about their own genocide," he said.
"The primary concern is what they do to censor Palestinians and Lebanese people."
He added that people on the right who believe in free speech should also be standing with the pro-Palestine community who are having their accounts taken down.
"Free speech is for all of us," Hickey said. "If the free speech is just for you, then it's not free speech at all."
YouTube were approached for comment.
