SCRUBBED
YouTube slammed for REMOVING video of two doctors pushing for end to coronavirus lockdowns
YOUTUBE has been slammed for supposedly removing a video of two California doctors who pushed for end to coronavirus lockdowns.
Google's said it would take down any videos that "disputes the efficacy of local health authority guidance" after the footage of doctors Dan Erickson and Artin Massihi was removed.
The medics, who run a private urgent-care clinic in , argued that stay orders were doing more harm than good in the video - which reportedly garnered five million views and was shared by Tesla CEO - before it disappeared.
California news station updated their to provide additional EDSA context with the doctors' interview on April 22.
But it reemerged on a YouTube channel called two days later.
The doctor duo argued that the number of fatalities was minuscule and that the stay-home orders are negatively effecting the healthcare industry as infection rates top one million in the US.
California has reported 1,800 fatalities.
"It's time to open back up," Erikson argued. "The science says it is. The models we've been using from predictions, to predict the amount of disease, are not accurate."
They claim to know colleagues who are under pressure to list coronavirus as patients' cause of death.
"We've been to hundreds of autopsies. You don't talk about one thing, you talk about comorbiditie," Erikson claimed.
"ER doctors now [say] 'It's interesting when I'm writing about my death report, I'm being pressured to add COVID. Why is that?"
The pair later told people could get "herd immunity" , citing the Swedish model of reopening with less sweeping restrictions.
Their comments come as other tech giants like and are ramping up the removal of posts containing misinformation or urging people to defy state lockdown laws.
Disease experts, state officials, and the Feds have all cited social distancing efforts and the majority of Americans' stay home efforts as flattening the curve of the deadly bug.
YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki told CNN last week "anything that would go against World Health Organization [WHO] recommendations would be a violation of our policy."
But the removal of the video resulted in a lot of objection online.
"This. Is. Censorship. On what is arguably the most important media platform in the United States," tweeted , a former New York Times reporter.
Fox News host Tucker Carlson also blasted YouTube's decision to remove the video.
"The doctor's video was produced by a local television channel. It was, in fact a mainstream news story," Carlson continued. "The only justification for taking it down was that the physicians on-screen had reached different conclusions than the people currently in charge."
YouTube said Wednesday they remove any content that violates their Community Guidelines.
A spokesperson told The Sun: “Content that provides sufficient educational, documentary, scientific or artistic (EDSA) context is allowed.
"For example, of this interview with additional context.
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"From the very beginning of the pandemic, we’ve had clear policies against COVID-19 misinformation and are committed to continue providing timely and helpful information at this critical time.”
bought YouTube in a billion-dollar deal back in 2006.
The news comes as President Trump confirmed that from Thursday when they expire.
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