Pushing a harmful narrative can get you kicked off of YouTube. No, not undermining American democracy, YouTube’s fine with that. Alt-right and anti-LGBTQ hate speech? No, YouTube’s fine with that too. Wait, targeted harassment against another user? No, that’s fine too. You’re not racist are you? Oh no, don’t worry, YouTube’s cool with that too.
YouTube does nothing to stop the alt-right movement spreading on their platform or harassment. They demonetize victims of harassment without banning harassers, and seem to intentionally target the LGBTQ+ community. Still, they have made a few good decisions. One was slowing the spread of misinformation about vaccines on their platform. It was a few years late, but better late than never. In a similar situation, they’ve also banned misinformation about COVID-19. That’s where Trump’s favorite “news” network, One America News Network (OAN) got in trouble. They repeatedly broke YouTubes rules, and, unlike Facebook, YouTube didn’t reset their strike count. For once, YouTube stopped playing favorites.
Trump and his followers enjoy OAN specifically because they spread disinformation the president spews as fact. Unlike Fox News, who has decided to draw the line at Trump’s poorly attempted coup, OAN has backed Trump’s illegitimate claims of election fraud. They’ve also spread misinformation about COVID, endangering the lives of the millions of Americans who have already gotten the disease and the millions more who will get it thanks to this misinformation.
One America “News” Network
OAN reports the news Trump wants to hear. It’s a news network without any credibility besides the fact that Trump loves them. Why? Because they go along with whatever scheme he’s pushing. Lying about election fraud? OAN will run with it. Need a fluff question during a presser? OAN’s got your back. When even Fox News found Trump’s views too extreme for their partisan reporting, OAN dove right in. So when Trump makes up claims about COVID-19 being a small illness or something that can be completely eliminated, OAN runs with his lies.
They share these propaganda stories on their website, on their YouTube channel, on social media and beyond. However, that’s where they run into problems. Though YouTube rarely enforces their own rules, especially when it comes to endangering their users, they have drawn a strange line in the sand at consumer health. As such, when OAN turned to YouTube to spread the president’s lies about COVID-19, YouTube took action.
YouTube’s Suspension
OAN published a video stating that there is a “guaranteed cure” for COVID-19. This is a violation of YouTube’s guidelines. We do not yet have a cure for COVID-19. We have treatment plans that seem to help patients fight off the infection, however, many still feel symptoms months after infection. We still don’t fully understand this virus, let alone have a cure for it. Pushing this kind of misinformation could cause people to live less cautiously, endangering themselves and others. Someone could get sick because they believe the virus isn’t a big deal, or because they believe there is a simple cure for it. Someone could die because of this false information.
I’d love to tell you that OAN got a long suspension that will change their ways, but it’s simply not true. YouTube banned OAN from uploading videos for a week. One week. Endanger million of lives? One week suspension. Come out as transgender? Demonetized forever.
One Small Step
Still, YouTube’s actually doing something right here. They’re taking a stronger stance against COVID-19 misinformation than many other social networks have. Twitter and Facebook sometimes label false stories as false, but allow users to continue to view, like, or even share this misinformation. YouTube removed the videos in question and banned the user for a week. That’s not enough, but it’s something. If OAN makes the same mistake twice more, they’ll face a permanent ban. Furthermore, the company has been removed from YouTube’s Partner Program, which means they’ll have to re-apply if they want to monetize their videos with ads on YouTube.
YouTube’s doing something. It still is a network where hate, bigotry, and misinformation spreads, but, like Twitter, they’ve begun taking steps in the right direction. It’s becoming harder than ever to find reliable news online due to the spread and proliferation of fake and manipulative propaganda disguised as news. Personal responsibility and critical thinking skills can only get us so far. After all, due to misinformation spread in the United States, over 10 million people have contracted the virus and over a quarter of a million have died. Youtube, Facebook, Twitter, and others have to take a stand against dangerous misinformation campaigns. Lives are at stake, perhaps more now than ever before.