One America News Network, one of Donald Trump’s favorite propaganda outlets, has been suspended for one week by YouTube after posting a video with misinformation about COVID-19.
OANN will not only be prevented from posting videos for a week, it has also been suspended from YouTube's monetization program. From CNN:
"After careful review, we removed a video from OANN and issued a strike on the channel for violating our Covid-19 misinformation policy, which prohibits content claiming there’s a guaranteed cure," Ivy Choi, a YouTube spokesperson, told CNN in a statement.
"Additionally, due to repeated violations of our Covid-19 misinformation policy and other channel monetization policies, we've suspended the channel from the YouTube Partner Program and as a result, its monetization on YouTube,” Choi added.
As Axios explained, OANN will have to reapply to YouTube’s Partner Program if it wants to monetize its videos again. If OANN gets two more strikes, its YouTube account will be terminated altogether:
YouTube has a three-strikes policy before an account is terminated. This is OANN's first strike, but it has violated the platform's COVID-19 misinformation policy before, meaning it gets no more warnings if it breaks the rules again — just additional strikes.
Unfortunately, many people believe the disinformation peddled on OANN. As Brian Stelter reported in the CNN video, OANN's lies and conspiracy theories have already “contributed to a widespread lack of faith in the election.” He cited a Monmouth poll that found 61% of Republicans “are not at all confident that the election was fair and accurate.”
So, good for YouTube but this is only a baby step.
