One of the largest media companies in Australia, local Sky News, has been suspended by YouTube. It was banned from posting on its platform for allegedly breaching Covid-19 misinformation policies. It has also reportedly had some of its videos removed.
On Sunday, the channel announced that the one-week suspension was issued following a review of Sky News Australia’s “old videos.” Under the terms of the temporary ban, for seven days, YouTube will allow no videos or live streams to be posted by the channel, which has 1.86 million subscribers. Some earlier videos about coronavirus have been reportedly permanently deleted from the platform.
The ban was issued after some of its online content had been reportedly found to include videos that “denied the existence of Covid-19.” “Numerous” such videos have been removed from the channel so as not to “cause real-world harm.”
A YouTube spokesperson told that “specifically, we don’t allow content that denies the existence of Covid-19, or that encourages people to use hydroxychloroquine or ivermectin to treat or prevent the virus. No sufficient countervailing context has been provided in the allegedly offending media reports.
According to YouTube’s policies, a week-long suspension counts as one strike. If three such warnings are issued over the course of 90 days, a channel is permanently removed from the platform.
Australia, which has recorded around 34,400 cases of the deadly virus, has imposed some of the world’s strictest pandemic measures. Earlier this month, after some of the restrictions were extended, thousands took to the streets of its major cities to protest.
