Blog • April 9, 2021

YouTube Censors Video of Florida Governor Discussing COVID

A roundtable discussion featuring Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and several public health experts has become the latest victim of Big Tech censorship.

YouTube censored the video of DeSantis, former White House coronavirus advisor Dr. Scott Atlas, and Drs. Sunetra Gupta, Jay Bhattacharya, and Martin Kulldorrf discussing the state’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The governor and the doctors detailed why the state chose to reopen schools during the pandemic because they believed it was more physically and mentally detrimental for children to remain in isolation.

YouTube removed the video because the discussion between DeSantis and the four other doctors was “violating YouTube’s Community Guidelines.” YouTube, which is a product of Google, prohibits any content that contradicts the recommendations of the World Health Organization. (You know, the organization that echoed Chinese propaganda claiming COVID couldn’t spread between humans.) YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki told CNN last year that YouTube would remove any “problematic” videos associated with COVID-19.

The video of the roundtable discussion had garnered 500,000 views since being posted on March 18.

DeSantis, a Republican, reopened most of the state of Florida last year, bucking the lockdown trends that other large states, including California and New York, have maintained. Despite the hoopla from YouTube, reopening schools is not a controversial issue in the eyes of the medical community. The American Academy of Pediatrics, the CDC, and many others have urged schools to reopen because of the negative consequences of isolation on children.