From left to right: Smer leader Robert Fico (l), Daniel Bombic (c) and Judita Laššáková (r). (source: Sme)
YouTube, Google’s video sharing platform, cancelled on Sunday a channel that had belonged to the notorious Slovak extremist and conspirator Daniel Bombic, also known as Danny Kollar.
YouTube told the Sme daily that Bombic had “violated YouTube’s guidelines”. However, the platform failed to specify how he had breached the rules. Bombic compared YouTube’s move to the May 15 attack on Prime Minister Robert Fico of the Smer party. Fico was left shot and severely injured.
“If they can’t argue, they’ll shoot you down. It happened to Robert Fico, it’s happened to me too,” the extremist said.
The Denník N daily writes that Google did not see anything problematic in Bombic’s videos two weekends ago, when the daily contacted the tech giant.
The London-based Slovak, 42, had a huge following on the platform - 79,500 people. His videos had more than 12 million views in the past seven months, according to social media expert Jakub Goda. In addition to the lost followers, YouTube also deleted Bombic’s 600 videos, and cut the controversial man from income generated from membership fees paid by his fans.
In the past, the Meta company deleted Bombic’s Facebook and Instagram pages for spreading hate, and put him on its “black list”.
Wanted and heiling Bombic
Three European arrest warrants have been issued against the Slovak for extremism and the unauthorised handling of personal data. After long months, a London court ordered the extradition of Bombic to Slovakia in April. The decision is not final.
Bombic is infamous for verbal attacks on different groups, in particular well-known female journalists and politicians. During the coronavirus pandemic, he also attacked essential workers and published their personal data, calling on people to phone them. Moreover, the Sme daily published a video in which Bombic Heil-Hitler's. Most recently, he published an ID card belonging to the pensioner who shot the premier last month.
He also talks about the New World Order conspiracy and the Great Replacement theory, which is a racist theory holding that global elites want to replace white people and encourage immigration.
Bombic insists that he is being prosecuted for his opinions and exposing the truth.
Meanwhile, the Slovak has also identified those reportedly responsible for YouTube’s decision to cancel him - lawyer Miroslav Kamenský and Západoslovenská televízia, a TV channel. Kamenský, who runs on the far-right party Republika’s slate in the European elections, was his friend before their rift. Later, Bombic went on to accuse the “globalists” for the removed channel.
YouTube’s warning
Regardless, Bombic has said that he is not giving up and is planning to create a new channel, though he is not officially allowed to.
YouTube has already warned anyone who would like to cooperate with Bombic.
“If we become aware of a channel that uploads content with a creator whose activity has been terminated on YouTube, we may remove that content or channel entirely.”
Several coalition politicians have recently appeared on Bombic’s show, which has been streamed on YouTube, including Fico’s chief adviser Erik Kaliňák (Smer) and Interior Minister Matúš Šutaj Eštok (Hlas). Kaliňák was supposed to appear on the show on June 5. Fico himself was a guest on the programme in 2023. The show is co-hosted by Smer MP Judita Laššáková. She is also running in the European elections.
Smer politicians have slammed YouTube for the decision. For example, pro-Russian Smer MP and Deputy Speaker of Parliament Ľuboš Blaha called the move “corporate fascism”. Defence Minister Robert Kaliňák described Bombic as “just a blogger”, adding that he himself was on the programme several times.
Bombic also curates his profile on the Telegram platform, where he has 60,000 followers. Telegram is a popular platform among pro-Russian Slovak politicians, as well as disinformation spreaders.
His background was previously scrutinised by the investigative journalism site Bellingcat.
