YouTube Suspends Sen. Rand Paul Over COVID Mask Misinformation
Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) speaks at a Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee hearing at the Dirksen Senate Office Building on July 20, 2021 in Washington, DC. The committee will hear testimony about the Biden administration's ongoing plans to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic and Delta variant. Stefani Reynolds-Pool/Getty Images

Video streaming platform YouTube has suspended the account of Senator Rand Paul for one week after the Republican lawmaker uploaded content claiming that most masks are ineffective in combatting COVID-19.

Paul is the second Republican lawmaker to have his account suspended for misinformation, ABC News Go reported. A YouTube spokesperson said in a statement that the suspension means that the user cannot upload content for a week.

The spokesperson noted that they would apply their policies consistently regardless of the speaker or political views. The spokesperson added that they make exceptions for videos with an additional context, such as views from local health authorities.

YouTube said it would remove content that includes claims that masks do not work against COVID infection to protect users from content that poses real-world harm.

READ NEXT: Former U.S. Pres. Donald Trump Sues Big Tech CEOs for Censorship

YouTube Content of Senator Rand Paul

Rand Paul has disputed the effectiveness of masks in the three-minute video, while the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and medical experts worldwide urged the public to use masks to limit the spread of the virus.

The lawmaker said in the video that most of the masks that people get over the counter do not work, adding that they do not prevent infection, Associated Press reported.

Rand Paul, through a tweet, has expressed his opinion on YouTube's action, suspending his account. He said that the video streaming platform's move was a "badge of honor." But the Republican senator acknowledged that the company has the right to police its own platform.

YouTube has also removed a video of Paul's interview. He also disputed the use and effectiveness of the masks in the said video.

In a separate post, the senator claimed that he has not lied nor used expletives. He also believed that he did not spread misinformation.

Rand Paul said he only told the truth about what the government seeks to do to the people, which is curtailing their most basic liberties and using the pandemic as their excuse, NBC News reported.

Account Suspension

Meanwhile, social media platform Twitter had also taken the same action against Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene.

Greene's account was suspended after she falsely tweeted that the vaccines are failing and do not reduce the spread of the virus. She added that neither do masks.

Health experts had already widely established that vaccines and masks work against COVID-19.

Last month, her account was also suspended for 12 hours. Twitter said some of her tweets had violated its policy against spreading misinformation that could cause harm during the pandemic, PBS reported.

Like YouTube, Twitter also uses a strike policy, wherein two or three strikes can cause a 12-hour account lock, while four strikes cause a weeklong suspension. Five or more strikes can get their accounts permanently removed from Twitter.

Greene said in a statement that Twitter had suspended her for speaking the truth. She added that it only cares about the left's radical narrative.

READ MORE: Donald Trump Asks Joe Biden to Pass a Message to Old Friend Vladimir Putin Whom He Says He Trusts More Than U.S. Intelligence

This article is owned by Latin Post

Written by: Mary Webber

WATCH: Marjorie Taylor Greene Twitter SUSPENSION, Rand Paul YouTube Violation REIGNITES Censorship DEBATE - From The Hill