YouTube cracks down on anti-vax videos

YouTube says it will remove videos that falsely claim approved vaccines are dangerous.

The video-sharing giant has already banned posts that spread false myths around coronavirus treatments, including ones that share inaccurate claims about COVID-19 vaccines shown to be safe.

But the Google-owned site says its concerns about the spread of medical conspiracy theories goes beyond the pandemic.

“We’ve steadily seen false claims about the coronavirus vaccines spill over into misinformation about vaccines in general,” the Google-owned website says in a statement. “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 expanded policy will apply to “currently administered vaccines that are approved and confirmed to be safe and effective by local health authorities and the WHO (World Health Organization).”

It will see false claims about routine immunizations for diseases like measles and hepatitis B removed from YouTube. Content that “falsely says that approved vaccines cause autism, cancer or infertility, or that substances in vaccines can track those who receive them” will also be taken down.

YouTube says it had removed more than 130,000 videos since last year for violating its COVID-19 vaccine policies.