Senator Rand Paul faces a week’s suspension from YouTube after the platform took down two of his videos for allegedly breaking their guidelines on COVID “misinformation.”
YouTube suspended Sen. Paul for 7 days on Tuesday evening after removing two of his videos from their platform in the space of a few days. In the first, Paul spoke with a Newsmax reporter and discussed his suspicions about the origins of COVID-19 pandemic, along with noting that masks don’t work. After the video was taken down, he later uploaded a second video to YouTube, and to competitor Rumble, where he slammed the Big Tech platform for removing the first one, and doubled down on his comments on masks.
“Apparently, because I dared to contradict Dr. Fauci and the government, YouTube has removed my video,” Paul said in the second video. “YouTube said the video violated their policy, because of my comments on masks, and that they don’t allow videos that contradicts the government’s guidance on COVID,” adding that while they may be a private entity, they are “acting like an arm of the government, censoring those who present an alternative view to the science deniers in Washington.”
“Saying cloth masks work, when they don’t, actually risks lives, as someone may choose to care for a loved one with COVID while only wearing a cloth mask,” he continued. “This is not only bad advice but also potentially deadly misinformation,” he added, which was then also removed from YouTube for violating the same community guidelines on COVID misinformation.
“They are now banning all my speech, including speech that is given on the Senate floor, which is protected constitutional,” Paul told the media on Tuesday. “YouTube now thinks they are smart enough and godly enough that they can oversee speech, even constitutionally protected speech,” he continued, angry at his treatment by the Big Tech platform. In a further tweet, he said it was a “badge of honor” to have the “leftwing cretins” at YouTube for refusing to toe the government line on COVID lockdowns and masks.
YouTube has recently pledged to remove all COVID-19 related content that does not comport with the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and the World Health Organization (WHO), in a move many consider blatant censorship.
A badge of honor . . . leftwing cretins at Youtube banning me for 7 days for a video that quotes 2 peer reviewed articles saying cloth masks don’t work.
If you want to see the banned video go to Liberty Tree https://t.co/gsTUwuLZGL
— Rand Paul (@RandPaul) August 10, 2021
Paul, known as one of the most liberty-minded members of Congress, has been repeatedly battling in the Senate against mask mandates and COVID restrictions. Last month, he faced off again with Anthony Fauci, accusing him of lying to Congress and funding Gain-of-Function research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology in China, and suggested that the funding ultimately led to the COVID-19 pandemic. He later confirmed that he wanted Congress to criminally refer Fauci for his alleged lying.
He has further introduced legislation to prohibit the imposition of mask mandates on public transportation. “The federal government forcing the American people to continue to wear masks despite the fact that we’ve already reached herd immunity is ridiculous and needs to end immediately,” he said in July. “I am introducing the Travel Mask Mandate Repeal Act of 2021 to put a stop to this nanny state mandate of requiring masks on public transportation. In a free county people will evaluate their personal risk factors and are smart enough to ultimately make medical decisions like wearing a mask themselves.”
