Aug 11, 2021 - Politics & Policy

YouTube suspends Rand Paul for one week over mask effectiveness claims

Erin Doherty

Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) departs from a luncheon with Senate Republicans in the U.S. Capitol building on August 05, 2021. Photo: Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

YouTube suspended Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) for seven days on Tuesday over a video claiming that cloth masks are not effective in fighting COVID-19, CNN reports.

Driving the news: "This resulted in a first strike on the channel, which means it can't upload content for a week, per our longstanding three strikes policy," a YouTube spokesperson told CNN.

"We apply our policies consistently across the platform, regardless of speaker or political views, and we make exceptions for videos that have additional context such as countervailing views from local health authorities."
Paul took to Twitter to express his disagreement with YouTube's decision. "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," Paul wrote in a tweet on Tuesday.
YouTube cited a line from Paul's video that stated that "most of the masks you get over the counter don't work" as an example of the offending comment, per CNN.

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YouTube suspends Rand Paul for one week over mask effectiveness claims

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