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YouTube has blocked a video touting the potential promise of a UV light treatment days after President Donald Trump mused aloud about a similar method to fight COVID-19.
YouTube, in turn, vowed to remove videos running counter to the World Health Organization (WHO), the U.N. system global health body which has peddled dubious information from the Chinese government about the country’s pandemic fight and echoed the regime’s claim the virus wasn’t transmissible by humans:
WHO also slammed Trump’s ban on incoming flights from China, a move eventually viewed widely on both sides of the aisle in the U.S. as a vital step in preventing the virus’ spread stateside.
“Obviously, they’re private companies, so it’s not a First Amendment issue,” Soave says. “If you say drinking bleach is going to cure coronavirus, they wanna take that thing down, and most people agree that’s OK.”
Still, blocking information comes with a potential cost, Soave warns. Consider content that could be seen as “problematic” involving a potential coronavirus treatment, like the anti-malaria drug hydroxychloroquine.
“We could know tons more about that three days from now … it’s better if the platforms default to just letting it all be out there,” Soave says. “Any effort to control all the information people have is going to look foolish. We don’t know everything about the disease yet.”
David Keating, president of the D.C.-based Institute for Free Speech, says blindly supporting government dictums can do a disservice to the public at large.
“To this day in the U.K. the official guidance is not to wear a mask [to prevent coronavirus transmission],” Keating says, citing Taiwan’s more successful pandemic fight credited in part by mask use. “Basically, the government is lying to people … they don’t want them buying medical-grade masks.”
“One thing we’ve learned over history is that governments often lie,” he says. “And WHO, while not being a government, shares many of the same characteristics.”
Keating suggests blindly following conventional wisdom can lead to other ill effects.
“What would have happened if these platforms had these kind of policies, blindly following government advice, in the Jim Crow era?” he asks. “Would they have taken down NAACP videos?”
YouTube has blocked a video touting the potential promise of a UV light treatment days after President Donald Trump mused aloud about a similar method to fight COVID-19.
YouTube, in turn, vowed to remove videos running counter to the World Health Organization (WHO), the U.N. system global health body which has peddled dubious information from the Chinese government about the country’s pandemic fight and echoed the regime’s claim the virus wasn’t transmissible by humans:
WHO also slammed Trump’s ban on incoming flights from China, a move eventually viewed widely on both sides of the aisle in the U.S. as a vital step in preventing the virus’ spread stateside.
“Obviously, they’re private companies, so it’s not a First Amendment issue,” Soave says. “If you say drinking bleach is going to cure coronavirus, they wanna take that thing down, and most people agree that’s OK.”
Still, blocking information comes with a potential cost, Soave warns. Consider content that could be seen as “problematic” involving a potential coronavirus treatment, like the anti-malaria drug hydroxychloroquine.
“We could know tons more about that three days from now … it’s better if the platforms default to just letting it all be out there,” Soave says. “Any effort to control all the information people have is going to look foolish. We don’t know everything about the disease yet.”
David Keating, president of the D.C.-based Institute for Free Speech, says blindly supporting government dictums can do a disservice to the public at large.
“To this day in the U.K. the official guidance is not to wear a mask [to prevent coronavirus transmission],” Keating says, citing Taiwan’s more successful pandemic fight credited in part by mask use. “Basically, the government is lying to people … they don’t want them buying medical-grade masks.”
“One thing we’ve learned over history is that governments often lie,” he says. “And WHO, while not being a government, shares many of the same characteristics.”
Keating suggests blindly following conventional wisdom can lead to other ill effects.
“What would have happened if these platforms had these kind of policies, blindly following government advice, in the Jim Crow era?” he asks. “Would they have taken down NAACP videos?”
