YouTube's suspension of Rand Paul sparks debate on role of social media in battle against …

WASHINGTON — Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) has long contradicted health experts by claiming cloth masks are ineffective in limiting the spread of the coronavirus. After making that claim in a video on YouTube last week, he was tossed off the platform for a week. YouTube said it violated the site’s ban on misinformation. Paul firing back, describing it as “a badge of honor,” tweeting, “Leftwing cretins at YouTube banning me for 7 days for a video that quotes 2 peer reviewed articles saying cloth masks don’t work.” A badge of honor . . . leftwing cretins at Youtube banning me for 7 days for a video that quotes 2 peer reviewed articles saying cloth masks don’t work. If you want to see the banned video go to Liberty Tree https://t.co/gsTUwuLZGL — Senator Rand Paul (@RandPaul) August 10, 2021 Lisa Macpherson, a policy expert at Public Knowledge, an organization promoting freedom of expression online, said she understands why the video sharing site made that call.  “Public Knowledge has done a lot of research and tracking on how all of the digital platforms managed the onslaught of misinformation about COVID-19,” Macpherson said. “One of the things that we learned, unfortunately, is information…
Read More