YouTube is expanding its ban on COVID-19 vaccine misinformation to also crack down on videos that claim any approved medical vaccine is dangerous or ineffective.
The new rules mean spreading falsehoods or conspiracy theories about other government-certified vaccines for diseases such as measles and Hepatitis B is no longer allowed on the platform. This includes allegations that any approved vaccine can cause autism, infertility, cancer ,or be used to track people.
A year ago, YouTube began banning content containing COVID-19 vaccine misinformation, which has resulted in the take down of over 130,000 related videos. Still, the platform has been noticing misinformation about other vaccines has been generating fears around the COVID-19 vaccines, even though medical authorities have declared them safe for use.
“We’ve steadily seen false claims about the coronavirus vaccines spill over into misinformation about vaccines in general, and we're now at a point where it's more important than ever to expand the work we started with COVID-19 to other vaccines,” the Google-owned YouTube said on Wednesday.
As part of the new policy, the platform is terminating several YouTube channels from anti-vaccine advocates including ones tied to Joseph Mercola and Robert F. Kennedy, Jr, according to The Washington Post.
If a user does post vaccine misinformation, YouTube will likely first serve them a warning. However, repeat offenders will begin receiving strikes for posting the misinformation. Once three strikes are issued within 90-day period, YouTube can then terminate the user’s channel.
“We may also terminate your channel or account after a single case of severe abuse, or when the channel is dedicated to a policy violation,” the platform says.
However, the new rules contain exceptions. “Given the importance of public discussion and debate to the scientific process, we will continue to allow content about vaccine policies, new vaccine trials, and historical vaccine successes or failures on YouTube,” the platform said.
Videos about a user sharing their firsthand experience with a vaccine is also permitted. However, YouTube notes it will take down the video or channel if it includes “other policy violations or demonstrate a pattern of promoting vaccine misinformation.”
“These policy changes will go into effect today, and as with any significant update, it will take time for our systems to fully ramp up enforcement,” YouTube added.