“YouTube has pulled a video featuring Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) over allegations it contains misinformation about the coronavirus and mask-wearing,” the Washington Post reported on Friday, April 9, 2021. Read story here.
DeSantis has been at the forefront of GOP governors pushing for “reopening” despite Covid-19 surges, and opposing life-saving health mandates. Earlier this week, he banned mandatory vaccine “passports” in Florida (read story here), but at least one private college there plans to defy the governor’s order (see story here).
The video in question was made by a Tampa Bay TV station of a March 18 roundtable hosted by DeSantis and packed with panelists “who have publicly spoken against lockdowns and other measures enacted to reduce the spread of the coronavirus.” YouTube took it down from its platform for violating its policy against “medical misinformation,” the Post reported.
At one point, the panelists contradicted advice by the Centers for Disease Control, a federal agency, and the World Health Organization, that children should wear masks. That likely prompted the ban.
Banning political figures from internet platforms is controversial. The Post said, “Reactions from Florida politicians largely split along party lines. The state’s top elected Democrat, Agriculture and Consumer Services Commissioner Nikki Fried, tweeted ‘we should find a governor who doesn’t get banned from @YouTube for endangering children with conspiracies.’ Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) warned of ‘unelected gatekeepers of the public square.'”
As a post on HorsesAss.org said (@16 here), people are entitled to their opinions, but they’re not entitled to approval of their opinions. Private companies have a First Amendment right to decide what content is published on their websites, and if they choose to keep misinformation or bad medical advice out of their corner of the public square, good for them.
Photo: Ron DeSantis is one of the country’s most toxic GOP governors. Here, he argues that Covid-19 deaths don’t matter (story here).
