YouTube suspends Ron Johnson's account over COVID-19 misinformation

[NewYorkExpress]

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/youtube-suspends-gop-sen-ron-johnson-s-account-says-he-n1270569

YouTube suspended Sen. Ron Johnson’s account on Friday after the Wisconsin Republican posted his recent remarks about alternative therapies to treat Covid-19.

“We removed the video in accordance with our COVID-19 medical misinformation policies, which don’t allow content that encourages people to use Hydroxychloroquine or Ivermectin to treat or prevent the virus,” a YouTube spokesperson said in a statement.

Johnson’s account is blocked from uploading videos for a week. The company’s policy states it does not allow content that spreads medical misinformation contradicting local health authorities or the World Health Organization’s information about Covid-19, regardless of the speaker.

In a June 3 virtual appearance before the Milwaukee Press Club, Johnson criticized the Trump and Biden administrations for “not only ignoring but working against robust research (on) the use of cheap, generic drugs to be repurposed for early treatment of COVID,” the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported.

....


Corri Hess, the president of the Milwaukee Press Club, tweeted Friday afternoon that the group would not remove “the on the record event with journalists.” However, by Friday evening, she posted that the video of the remarks had been removed by YouTube from the press club's channel./quote]

[Geoffrey Howe]

Haven't made my mind up on this sort of thing. "does not allow content that spreads medical misinformation contradicting local health authorities or the World Health Organization’s information about Covid-19" seems quite dystopian.

[walleye26]

They should’ve suspended him for his comments about the Capitol Insurrection being tourists.

[The Dowager Mod]

Wisconsin traded Feingold for this clown. 

[President Johnson]

Wisconsin traded Feingold for this clown. 

Not once. But twice. What a joke.

[Mail-order President]

Repeal or reform Section 230. When these platforms start acting as publishers, they should be treated the same as publishers. Hopefully the 2024 GOP nominee campaigns on this as it's a winning issue.

[Hammy]

Too little, too late. He already advocated treason and sedition without consequence.

[Obama-Biden Democrat]

Bobby Jindal said the Republicans need to stop being the stupid party, it has only gotten worse. Is Ron Johnson really that stupid, or is he faking it to win over the MAGAs?

[ProudModerate2]

Bobby Jindal said the Republicans need to stop being the stupid party, it has only gotten worse. Is Ron Johnson really that stupid, or is he faking it to win over the MAGAs?

To "win over" a huge segment of "the MAGAs," you need to say stupid stuff. Period.

[Xing]

I'm honestly not sure what the answer is to stopping misinformation. It seems like blocking those who spread misinformation just backfires, because we get the predictable "muh elitism", "muh big brother conspiracy" takes, and people become even more convinced to never trust experts, and believe what they want to believe is true, regardless of what the evidence actually shows, or think what "feels" like the truth is the truth. Then again, if no effort is taken to combat misinformation, people will keep getting exposed to it, and believe in it. It's kind of a catch-22.

[Sir Mohamed]

Here we have it again! Free speech is under attack and conservatives are being censored by communist controlled Big Tec!

/s