Dennis Prager, founder of the right-wing propaganda outlet Prager University, insisted that YouTube had a First Amendment requirement to give him a platform to lie about climate change, deny that straight people get HIV, viciously vilify Muslims, and declare that “men get turned on by any sight of female flesh”.

The US appeals court ruled that YouTube was a private forum and therefore not subject to free-speech requirements under the First Amendment.

This means that while Prager has a right to spout bollocks under the constitution, YouTube is fully entitled to tell him to sling his hook.

"Despite YouTube's ubiquity and its role as a public-facing platform, it remains a private forum, not a public forum subject to judicial scrutiny under the First Amendment", the court said.

PragerU said YouTube reduced its viewership and revenue with "arbitrary and capricious use of 'restricted mode' and 'demonetisation' viewer restriction filters. PragerU claimed it was targeted by YouTube because of its "political identity and viewpoint as a non-profit that espouses conservative views on current and historical events".

But a US District Court judge dismissed PragerU's lawsuit against Google and YouTube, and a three-judge panel at the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit upheld that dismissal in a unanimous ruling. "PragerU's claim that YouTube censored PragerU's speech faces a formidable threshold hurdle: YouTube is a private entity. The Free Speech Clause of the First Amendment prohibits the government -- not a private party -- from abridging speech", judges wrote.

Prager and his friends regularly condemn Muslims, LGBTQ equality, abortion, feminism, gun control, and campaign finance reform, and deny climate change. The company is partly funded by fracking billionaires.