YouTube Suspends US Network for Misinformation
- by Randall Martin
- in IT&Software
- — Nov 27, 2020
It remains unclear what particular claim or video got the outlet suspended, as the piece in question was scrubbed from the channel and none of the reporters who exchanged with Choi clarified the exact reason for the penalty.
OANN must also reapply to the YouTube Partner Program if it wants to make money from its videos. The news media company's YouTube channel, which now has over 13,000 videos and 1.2 million subscribers as of the writing, has been marked by the video streaming platform to violate the company's COVID-19 misinformation policy.
This is YouTube's first strike against the OANN channel.
More news: Agudath Israel, Catholic Diocese, Win Supreme Court Appeal Against Gov. CuomoSince February YouTube has pulled 200,000 risky or misleading videos on the subject, the company said.
Yet it took a video pushing lies about the coronavirus for YouTube to take action. Over the course of nine months, the platform removed more than 200,000 videos "related to unsafe or misleading COVID-19 information", it said in October. While creators are issued warnings, Axios reports that OANN has been issued warnings before and moving forward it will only be given strikes for violating policies and not warnings.
In a statement shared with VOA, OAN said that the video flagged by YouTube was not public, but unlisted "for review by internal OAN staff only". The platform says it has expanded its policies on medical information to include possible threats to misinformation about the pandemic and treatments for COVID-19.
More news: 'Final warning' for Pakistan cricketers in New ZealandTrump also praised OAN in a November 15 tweet about Fox News, saying, "Many great alternatives are forming & exist", and recommending his followers try the network.
YouTube, along with rival social media firms Facebook and Twitter, is under intense scrutiny for the amount of misinformation and hate speech that finds its way onto its platform.
Since February, YouTube has removed 200,000 videos that it determined contained risky or misleading information about the novel coronavirus.
More news: Add A ‘0’ Prefix For Landline To Mobile Calls From January 1The suspension happened at the same time when US Senator Bob Menendez, along with Democrat colleagues, wrote and published a letter to YouTube, urging the online platform to take a stronger stance against election misinformation.