Censored over COVID-19 misinformation, St. Louis County to stop using YouTube by Oct. 19 …

Censored over COVID-19 misinformation, St. Louis County to stop using YouTube by Oct. 19 A pamphlet about COVID-19 vaccines sits on a chair at the wall during a St. Louis County Council meeting held to discuss and vote on upholding a countywide mask mandate resolution at the Lawrence K. Roos County Government Building in Clayton on Friday, August 27, 2021. Photo by Daniel Shular, dshular@post-dispatch.com Daniel Shular, CLAYTON — YouTube soon won’t have worry about taking down St. Louis County Council meetings over people making false or unproven claims about COVID-19 and vaccines.After Oct. 19, all council meetings will be exclusively streamed to a new streaming platform, BoxCast.The County began looking for a new video host in August after YouTube temporarily censored at least four council meetings for violating guidelines barring COVID-19 misinformation.The meetings featured comments from protesters against mask and vaccine mandates, some of whom denied the existence of the coronavirus or alleged the vaccines are part of a government conspiracy. Speakers called the pandemic a “Big Pharma” conspiracy or “bioweapon activated by 5G” wireless technology.Switching to BoxCast will require the county pay $1,500 a year, said council policy director Chris Grahn-Howard. But that’s to pay for live closed-captioning…
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