YouTube to remove videos with COVID-19 vaccine misinformation

Video sharing platform YouTube announced on Wednesday that it will remove videos containing COVID-19 vaccine misinformation.

According to The Verge, YouTube announced that the content about a vaccine that contradicts information from health experts or the World Health Organisation won't be permitted.

Farshad Shadloo, a YouTube spokesman, said in an email, "A COVID-19 vaccine may be imminent, therefore we're ensuring we have the right policies in place to be able to remove misinformation related to a COVID-19 vaccine." That could include false claims that vaccines implant microchips in people's bodies, for example, or that they cause infertility.

Both rumors are untrue.

The new guidelines are an expansion of YouTube's existing COVID-19 Medical Misinformation Policy, which doesn't allow videos that falsely suggest the coronavirus doesn't exist, that discourage mainstream medical care for the disease, or that say the virus is not contagious.

The highly contagious virus does exist, and alternative, unproven remedies can be dangerous.

The Verge reported that YouTube has demonetised videos that promoted anti-vaccination information in 2019.