YouTube suspends Senator Rand Paul for video falsely claiming masks are ineffective

WASHINGTON – YouTube suspended Senator Rand Paul’s account on Tuesday for posting a video claiming that cloth face masks are ineffective against the coronavirus.

“A badge of honor … left-wing morons on Youtube ban me for 7 days for a video that quotes 2 peer-reviewed articles saying cloth masks don’t work”, Paul, R-Ky., tweeted.

Paul falsely claimed in the deleted video, “Most of the masks you get over the counter don’t work. They do not prevent infection, “adding that” cloth masks do not work “.

A YouTube spokesperson told NBC News the video violates the company’s policy on Covid-19 disinformation, which includes “allegations that wearing a mask is dangerous or causes negative effects on physical health “or that masks do not play a role in preventing the contraction or transmission of COVID-19.

“We have removed content from Senator Paul’s channel for including allegations that masks are ineffective in preventing the contraction or transmission of COVID-19, in accordance with our COVID-19 medical disinformation policies,” said the spokesperson. “This resulted in an initial warning on the channel, meaning it cannot download content for a week, per our long-standing three-warning policy.”

Paul claimed in a separate article on the conservative Liberty Tree website: “I didn’t lie. I didn’t use profanity. I did not spread any misinformation. I have only been telling the truth about what our government is trying to do to us, reducing our most basic freedoms, using the COVID-19 pandemic as an excuse. “

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and countless public health experts, including epidemiologists, have said since the start of the pandemic that masks protect against the spread of Covid.

YouTube’s decision to suspend Paul comes after Twitter temporarily suspended Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., From posting on this platform after falsely claiming the coronavirus vaccines were “failing.”

Public health experts have highlighted the effectiveness of vaccines, saying they protect people against severe cases of Covid. Although there are a few revolutionary cases among those vaccinated, they usually only show mild to moderate symptoms of the disease.