YouTube purges video of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis questioning whether masks are necessary for kids


YouTube has removed a video of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis in a roundtable discussion questioning the wisdom of pandemic lockdowns, after the Republican suggested there is no reason for children to wear masks. 

A YouTube spokesperson said that the video ‘included content that contradicts the consensus of local and global health authorities regarding the efficacy of masks to prevent the spread of COVID-19.’

The video depicted DeSantis in a March 18 discussion with Dr. Scott Atlas, Oxford epidemiologist Sunetra Gupta, Harvard professor Martin Kulldorff and Dr. Jay Bhattacharya from Stanford University. 

Gupta, Kulldorff and Bhattacharya were the authors of the controversial Great Barrington Declaration, which argued against lockdowns, and Atlas famously advised the Trump administration.

YouTube has removed a video of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis in a roundtable discussion questioning the wisdom of pandemic lockdowns

YouTube has removed a video of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis in a roundtable discussion questioning the wisdom of pandemic lockdowns

DeSantis questioned the necessity of masks for children in the March 18 discussion with Dr. Scott Atlas, Oxford epidemiologist Sunetra Gupta, Harvard professor Martin Kulldorff and Dr. Jay Bhattacharya from Stanford University

DeSantis questioned the necessity of masks for children in the March 18 discussion with Dr. Scott Atlas, Oxford epidemiologist Sunetra Gupta, Harvard professor Martin Kulldorff and Dr. Jay Bhattacharya from Stanford University

During the discussion, Gupta and Kulldorff both suggested that masks were unnecessary for children, citing data from Sweden where masks were optional in schools.

‘Dr. Gupta mentioned about not putting masks on kids. That’s not effective, not necessary. Martin Kulldorff, do you agree, in school, there’s no need for them to be wearing face masks?’ DeSantis asked, according to a transcript that remains online. 

‘Children should not wear face masks. No. They don’t need it for their own protection and they don’t need it for protecting other people either,’ responded Kulldorff, a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School.

‘I think that the masks in schools, there’s no scientific rationale or logic to have children wear masks in schools,’ added Atlas later in the discussion.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that teachers, staff, and students wear masks in school and other public settings.

A mother walks her children to school on the first day of in-person classes in Orange County at Baldwin Park Elementary School on August 21, 2020 in Orlando, Florida

A mother walks her children to school on the first day of in-person classes in Orange County at Baldwin Park Elementary School on August 21, 2020 in Orlando, Florida

A spokeswoman for YouTube parent Google said of the video: ‘YouTube has clear policies around COVID-19 medical misinformation to support the health and safety of our users.’

‘We allow videos that otherwise violate our policies to remain on the platform if they contain sufficient educational, documentary, scientific or artistic context,’ she added.

‘Our policies apply to everyone, and focus on content regardless of the speaker or channel,’ the statement said.

Florida has taken heavy criticism for DeSantis’ more relaxed approach to social and business restrictions in the pandemic, but the governor points to the state’s relatively low per capita death rate, ranking 26th in the nation overall and 41st out of 50 for seniors. 

Conservative critics harshly criticized YouTube for removing the 105-minute video, accusing the tech giant of censoring dissenting views.

‘George Orwell really underestimated where things were heading when he wrote 1984…’ tweeted columnist John Ziegler. 

‘DeSantis should mandate YouTube broadcast his message, and seize assets if they do not comply,’ wrote Andrew Kloster, a former Trump administration official. 

‘We have a cartel of woke billionaires controlling almost all dissemination of ideas in the public square and they want nothing to with ‘content that contradicts the consensus,” commentator Mark Steyn said on Fox News Primetime.

It is not the first time YouTube has removed videos questioning the ‘consensus’ on COVID mitigation measures.

In September, the service removed a 50-minute video featuring Atlas, a neuroradiologist and Hoover fellow, incorrectly claiming that children ‘do not even transmit the disease.’

Later in the video, Atlas corrected himself, saying that transmission by children is ‘not impossible, but it’s less likely.’ 

‘If the virus nightmare has taught the world anything, it’s that no one has a monopoly over the right policy advice,’ the Wall Street Journal editorial board argued at the time. ‘That’s why a free society fosters debate—so that better policies can be arrived at incrementally through argument and evidence.’

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