Fake News! OANN suspended from YouTube for repeatedly violating the ‘Covid-19 misinformation policy’

A reporter from OANN network

Screenshot / YouTube

Trump’s favorite TV station just got grounded by YouTube. One American News Network or “OANN” is a conservative news outlet. While only a handful of cable networks host OANN around the country, anyone with a smartphone can (unfortunately) watch their YouTube videos.

OANN is known for its quaintly old-fashioned coverage — think Anchorman with a makeover. More than breaking news, OANN represents broken news but with a dazzling Trump filter. It has been described as a “sealed-off vision of modern life—half-comforting, half-paranoid, like a Truman Show for angry retirees.”

For many people, the coverage will seem bizarre and even comical — for Trump supporters, the reporters speak hard facts. Most of us will only know the network from Trump’s press conferences. If he doesn’t pick a Fox News reporter for a question, his next (and sometimes first) choice is OANN.

Remember when Trump was coming under fire for his thinly veiled racist coins for COVID-19 and one journalist asked the President a surprisingly defensive question: “Mr. President, do you consider the term Chinese food to be racist because it is food that originated from China?” That was OANN.

YouTube draws the line

Screen that says fake news on it

Pixabay / memyselfaneye

The Trump sound piece is famous for repeating conspiracies and false information (the “Wuhan virus” was created in a Chinese lab, hydroxychloroquine is a cure for COVID-19, and Trump won the election) but in their latest video, OANN went one step too far for YouTube.

One America News posted a video with claims of a guaranteed cure for COVID-19. YouTube has since removed the video, as it violated a policy prohibiting content that spreads coronavirus misinformation.

Furthermore, OANN will be banned from posting new content for one week, and YouTube has removed the network from its YouTube Partners Program. This means that OANN can no longer make money from its existing content.

Three strikes and OANN is out

A shadow hand making finger gun

Kolar.io / Unsplash

Ivy Choi is a YouTube spokesperson, who explained how the company is working to contain the spread of “dangerous false information” about COVID-19. On the suspension of OANN, she stated:

Due to repeated violations of our Covid-19 misinformation policy and other channel monetization policies, we’ve suspended the channel from the YouTube Partner Program and as a result, its monetization on YouTube.

This will count as OANN’s first “strike” from YouTube, but it is not the first time the network has clashed with the video-sharing platform. YouTube has already warned OANN over its misleading content, and if it gets two more strikes then it will be permanently removed.

Let’s hope for Trump’s sake they stick around a bit longer, maybe he could get a job as an anchorman?

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