“YouTube has barred Sky News Australia from uploading new content for a week, saying it had breached rules on spreading Covid-19 misinformation,” writes the BBC.
Long-time Slashdot reader Hope Thelps shares their report:
YouTube issued a “strike” under its three-strike policy, the last of which means permanent removal. It did not point to specific items but said it opposed material that “could cause real-world harm”.
The TV channel’s digital editor said the decision was a disturbing attack on the ability to think freely. Sky News Australia is owned by a subsidiary of Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp and has 1.85 million YouTube subscribers. The ban could affect its revenue stream from Google.
A YouTube statement said it had “clear and established Covid-19 medical misinformation policies based on local and global health authority guidance”. A spokesperson told the Guardian it “did not allow content that denies the existence of Covid-19” or which encouraged people “to use hydroxychloroquine or ivermectin to treat or prevent the virus”. Neither has been proven to be effective against Covid.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.