Sky News Australia, the sub-brand of British news outlet Sky News, received a week-long suspension from YouTube for posting content allegedly denying "the existence of COVID-19" while sharing other content in violation of YouTube’s medical misinformation policies.
Beginning Thursday afternoon, Sky News’ official YouTube channel, which has 1.86 million subscribers, has been unable to publish new content. The last video posted, “Biden's approval ratings slump ahead of next year's critical midterm elections,” was uploaded early last Thursday. No new content has emerged on the channel since.
Australian journalist Josh Butler tweeted his email correspondence with YouTube over the Sky News suspension, stating “YouTube tells me it has ‘removed videos from and issued a strike to Sky News Australia’s channel’ on YouTube, over COVID content.”
new: YouTube tells me it has “removed videos from and issued a strike to Sky News Australia’s channel” on YouTube, over COVID content
— Josh Butler (@JoshButler) August 1, 2021
“we don’t allow content that denies the existence of COVID-19 or that encourages people to use Hydroxychloroquine or Ivermectin” pic.twitter.com/98NdYggtPC
In the email, YouTube issued a statement regarding the suspension of Sky News Australia.
“We have clear and established COVID-19 medical misinformation policies based on local and global health authority guidance, to prevent the spread of COVID-19 misinformation that could cause real-world harm. We apply our policies equally for everyone regardless of uploader, and in accordance with these policies and our long-standing strikes system, removed videos and issued a strike to Sky News’ Australia’s channel. Specifically, we don’t allow content that denies the existence of COVID-19 or that encourages people to use Hydroxychloroquine or ivermectin to treat or prevent the virus. We do allow for videos that have sufficient countervailing context, which the violative videos did not provide,” the email stated.
The “strike system” that YouTube, which is owned by Google, refers to in the email is a longstanding policy that penalizes users who do not abide by the tech giant’s Community Guidelines. According to their website, a “first strike” results in a warning, as they understand that “mistakes happen.” However, if a channel intentionally or unintentionally does not follow the guidelines a second time, it will receive another strike. A second violation means users are unable to upload videos, live streams, stories, or utilize other fundamental YouTube functions for a full week. “Full privileges will be restored automatically after the 1-week period, but your strike will remain on your channel for 90 days,” YouTube’s website states.
for clarity, Sky's YouTube is still active (not deleted, just now restricted), with 1.85 million subscribers. They won't say exactly which videos it has taken down, just that there were several
— Josh Butler (@JoshButler) August 1, 2021
YouTube says this is Sky's first strike - meaning 7 days banned from posting pic.twitter.com/prr9gUpuq9
While Sky News Australia’s channel is still alive and (sort of) breathing for now, we won’t see any new content until the suspension is up. YouTube’s policies note that three strikes within a 90-day period result in channel termination.