On Tuesday, YouTube suspended Senator Rand Paul’s account on its social media platform. The popular video sharing channel said a video that he had posted had violated their company’s policy on COVID-19 misinformation. His video mentioned that cloth masks were ineffective. After his ban, he tweeted that it was an honor.
Earlier, Paul had wrongly claimed that most masks available over the counter didn’t work, nor did they prevent infections. He also said that cloth masks didn’t work.
A spokesperson for YouTube told NBC that claims that say that wearing a mask was dangerous or caused negative physical health effects or that masks didn’t have role in stopping the transmission or contraction of COVID-19 was against their policy on COVID-19 misinformation.
The spokesperson added that they removed content from Senator Paul’s channel as he had claimed that masks were ineffective in preventing the contraction or transmission of COVID-19 in according with their COVID-19 medical misinformation policies.
The spokesperson said that he received a first strike on the channel because of his claims and that meant that he couldn’t post content for a week as per their longstanding three strikes policy.
After his suspension on YouTube, the Kentucky senator not only called it a badge of honor on Twitter but also called them “leftwing cretins” and said that his video quoted 2 peer reviewed articles that said that cloth masks didn’t work.
In another post on Liberty Tree, which is a conservative website, Paul said that he had not lied, nor had he used expletives, nor had he spread misinformation. Instead, he said that he had spoken the truth and that the government was intent on curtailing basic liberties using the COVID-19 pandemic as an excuse. In the recent past, Senator Paul Rand has faced off with diseases expert Dr. Anthony Fauci on the senate floor as well.
Public health experts are almost unanimous in their view that all types of masks work. Dr. John Brooks said that N95 and surgical masks were usually worn once by health professionals and ended up in a landfill while cloth masks were reusable, durable and maintained effectiveness even after regular washing. Dr. Brooks is the chief medical officer of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s COVID-19 response program.
