YouTube bans Ron Johnson for seven days over hydroxychloroquine claims

.

YouTube suspended Sen. Ron Johnson for seven days after he uploaded videos boasting the effectiveness of hydroxychloroquine to treat the coronavirus.

“YouTube’s ongoing COVID censorship proves they have accumulated too much unaccountable power,” the Wisconsin Republican said in response to the ban.

Johnson, who shared two videos of Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs hearings regarding the experimental drug, described the ban as “government-sanctioned censorship of ideas and speech” and said it “should concern” everyone.

“Big Tech and mainstream media believe they are smarter than medical doctors who have devoted their lives to science and use their skills to save lives,” he continued. “They have decided there is only one medical viewpoint allowed, and it is the viewpoint dictated by government agencies.”

CALIFORNIA APPEALS RULING THAT DECLARED ‘ASSAULT WEAPONS’ BAN UNCONSTITUTIONAL

The video streaming platform also removed a video where Johnson gave a speech criticizing the Trump and Biden administrations for “not only ignoring but working against robust research [on] the use of cheap, generic drugs to be repurposed for early treatment of COVID.”

“How many lives will be lost as a result? How many lives could have been saved with a free exchange of medical ideas?” he asked in the follow-up statement.

A spokesperson for YouTube told the Washington Examiner that one of the videos was removed from the platform because it violated “medical misinformation policies” specifically surrounding the coronavirus.

“YouTube doesn’t allow content that spreads medical misinformation that contradicts local health authorities’ or the World Health Organization’s (WHO) medical information about COVID-19,” the policy reads.

Johnson pushed back, suggesting the company should allow people to discuss and debate alternate solutions to the coronavirus freely.

“It always baffled me that there was such a concerted effort to deny the American public the type of robust exploration research into early treatment early in this pandemic,” Johnson said, doubling down on his claim that experimental drugs, hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin, are “incredibly safe.”

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER

Johnson’s ban comes after a new study concluded hydroxychloroquine, an immunosuppressive drug previously praised by former President Donald Trump as a “game-changer,” increased the survival rate of coronavirus patients.

The study found doses of hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin may have boosted coronavirus survival rates by nearly 200%.

CORRECTION: In a previous version of this article, the Washington Examiner reported that zinc worked in correlation with hydroxychloroquine, when the original medRxiv article was referring to azithromycin. The Washington Examiner regrets the error.

Related Content

Related Content