YouTube has barred One America News Network from posting new videos for a week and stripped it of its ability to make money off existing content after the pro-Trump channel uploaded a video, [allegedly] promoting a phony cure for COVID-19, YouTube spokesperson Ivy Choi tells Axios.
Maybe it was a fake cure. We haven’t been able to find the ‘cure’ as of yet.
They decided OANN is spreading misinformation. This looks like a threat to democracy, but you decide. To us, it’s like burning books.
Democrats Didn’t Like the So-Called Misinformation
YouTube had gotten complaints from Democrat senators claiming that OANN is spreading misinformation.
In the letter, penned by Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ) and his three colleagues Sens. Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn), and Gary Peters (D-Mich), YouTube is urged to remove election misinformation videos that “boost false fraud claims, seek to delegitimize the 2020 election results, sow public discord and fuel civil unrest.”
“[T]he platform is now home to an ‘onslaught of videos aiming to undermine the legitimacy of the election,’” the senators wrote, quoting a Bloomberg article. “These videos seek to undermine our democracy and cast doubt on the legitimacy of President-elect Biden’s incoming administration. Moreover, because the current president has not committed to a peaceful transition of power, misinformation, and manipulated media content on your platform may fuel civil unrest.”
The senators called on YouTube to implement a prohibition on misinformation videos ahead of the Georgia run-off elections on January 5.
These are people who lied about Russia collusion for more than three years.
OANN received a strike. Three strikes and it’s hasta la vista.
OANN is also suspended from the YouTube Partner Program, which means if it wants to monetize its videos again, it will have to re-apply.
YouTube says it does not consider OANN an authoritative news source.
Then there’s this:
Axios wrote: YouTube, like other platforms, has grown more willing to take action against conservative-leaning accounts that spread misinformation. It has also been trying to provide greater visibility to legitimate news outlets.
‘Legitimate’ includes fake news outlets like CNN.
The media kept Americans from knowing the truth about the election over and over. They demonized Hydroxychloroquine. They are fake news, but YouTube has no problem with them.
YouTube really cares about misinformation! pic.twitter.com/I2rNUhCaIB
— Jack Posobiec 🇺🇸 (@JackPosobiec) November 24, 2020
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