YouTube has removed over 30,000 videos as part of its coronavirus misinformation polies in the last six months, the company announced.
YouTube started cracking down on dissenting coronavirus videos last February, and the censorship has intensified in recent months.
According to a report on Axios, YouTube has taken down more than 800,000 videos that violated its controversial coronavirus misinformation policy since February of 2020. The videos are first flagged by human reviewers or the content moderation AI systems.
Then they are re-reviewed and removed if they contain information that contradicts information provided by the World Health organization.
If a video is found to be in violation of YouTube’s policies, the account receives a strike. Three strikes within a 90-day period results in an account being permanently banned.
Other mainstream platforms, including Twitter and Facebook have also introduced policies against COVID-19 vaccines misinformation in recent months.
However, for free-speech advocates, not wanting big tech giants to be who gets to determine what’s true, removing content is censorship and an attempt to silence alternative viewpoints.
