Video-sharing giant YouTube is now expanding its “medical misinformation” censorship policies to include certain cancer-related content, the platform announced on Tuesday.
YouTube is now set to streamline its existing policy to three distinct categories, according to the announcement.
Now, a large portion of YouTube’s announcement outlines how it will censor certain cancer-related content.
“Starting today and ramping up in the coming weeks, we will begin removing content that promotes cancer treatments proven to be harmful or ineffective or content that discourages viewers from seeking professional medical treatment,” the announcement states.
The platform also acknowledged the evolving nature of medical knowledge.
“Our goal is to ensure that when it comes to areas of well-studied scientific consensus, YouTube is not a platform for distributing information that could harm people,” its announcement states.
According to the announcement, the three categories of “medical misinformation” will be Prevention, Treatment, and Denial.
YouTube says it will remove content that “contradicts health authority guidance.”
The news comes weeks after Democratic presidential candidate Robert F Kennedy Jr announced he is suing YouTube for allegedly violating his free speech.
Since “YouTube does not allow people to say anything ‘that contradicts local health authorities’ (LHA) or the World Health Organization’s (WHO) medical information about COVID-19,'” this means the government sets the medical censorship guidelines, Kennedy’s lawsuit alleges.
RFK Jr warned the suppression will persist as the primary elections approach.
The lawsuit alleges that YouTube can’t legally censor Kennedy’s speech because it is a “digital town square.”
Last month, RFK had one of his videos pulled by YouTube just weeks after the video-sharing site censored his interview with Jordan Peterson.
“YouTube just pulled another of my videos, with former NY Post political reporter Al Guart,” reported RFK Jr in a tweet.
YouTube removed podcast host Jordan Peterson’s interview with RFK Jr for violating its “vaccine policies” after claiming that water chemicals are “turning children transgender.”
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