Sky News Australia said on Sunday it has been temporarily suspended by the video-sharing site YouTube following the platform’s review of content for compliance with its COVID-19 policies.
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“Sky News Australia acknowledges YouTube’s right to enforce its policies and looks forward to continuing to publish its popular news and analysis content to its subscribers shortly,” Sky News said in a statement on its website about the one-week suspension.
The 24-hour cable and television channel, which claims to have 1.85 million YouTube subscribers, is operated by Australian News Channel Pty Ltd and is a subsidiary of News Corp Australia.
Digital Editor Jack Houghton argues YouTube’s decision to suspend Sky News Australia is a disturbing attack on the ability to think freely.https://t.co/E7kSwuhfwe
— Sky News Australia (@SkyNewsAust) August 1, 2021
YouTube, owned by Alphabet Inc’s Google, confirmed the suspension.
“We apply our policies equally for everyone and in accordance with these policies and our long-standing strikes system, removed videos from and issued a strike to Sky News Australia’s channel,” a YouTube spokesperson said.
Australian media reported that the one-week suspension was issued on Thursday and came after a review of Sky News Australia’s content that allegedly denied the existence of COVID-19 or encouraged people to use hydroxychloroquine or ivermectin to treat the coronavirus, without providing countervailing context.
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