YouTube confirms it will remove anti-vaccine channels in Under New Content Policy

Washington, Sep 29 (UNI/SPUTNIK) YouTube confirmed to Sputnik on Wednesday that it will be removing prominent channels from its platform known for contradicting officially approved information of COVID-19 and vaccines against it.
The statement comes on the heels of reports that the video-sharing giant is planning to delete all information it considers false about currently vaccines that had been approved and confirmed as safe and effective by the World Health Organization and local health officials.

In its blog post released on Wednesday, YouTube explained that content debating the effectiveness and safety of vaccines has been produced for years despite guidance from health authorities of the contrary.

People sit in an observation room after getting their dose of the Covishield COVID-19 coronavirus vaccine at a vaccination centre

“Specifically, content that falsely alleges that approved vaccines are dangerous and cause chronic health effects, claims that vaccines do not reduce transmission or contraction of disease, or contains misinformation on the substances contained in vaccines will be removed. This would include content that falsely says that approved vaccines cause autism, cancer or infertility, or that substances in vaccines can track those who receive them,” it explained.
The online media company noted that since last year, it has already deleted over 130,000 videos for violating our COVID-19 vaccine policies.
“Our new guidance on vaccine side effects maps to public vaccine resources provided by health authorities and backed by medical consensus. These policy changes will go into effect today, and as with any significant update, it will take time for our systems to fully ramp up enforcement,” it concluded.
The company added that the guidelines will not only cover specific immunizations, but will also apply to general statements about vaccines.