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YouTube removes DeSantis COVID roundtable with Atlas, Kulldorff, Bhattacharya

In early April 2021 YouTube removed video of a March 18, 2021 COVID-19 roundtable hosted by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. The panel included Scott Atlas, Martin Kulldorff and Jay Bhattacharya. YouTube said the video contradicted local and global health authorities' consensus on children wearing masks.

Mar 18, 2021
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Whose side it served: Democrats

The removal took down a Republican governor's event challenging the Biden-era CDC's masking guidance for children.

What the record shows

KFF Health News and PolitiFact reported that YouTube cited statements that children should not wear masks. DeSantis said masks for kids were not effective or necessary; Kulldorff said children should not wear masks; Bhattacharya called them developmentally inappropriate; Atlas said there was no scientific rationale for masking children in schools. At the time, the CDC recommended masks for children 2 and older, including in schools. DeSantis called the takedown 'Orwellian' censorship, and the scientists said the discussion should have stayed up for debate. DeSantis reconvened the same panel on April 12, 2021 to discuss the removal.

In their words

“contradicts the consensus of local and global health authorities”— YouTube spokesperson · source
The other side

The KFF/PolitiFact review found the panel's claims were at odds with the public health guidance and evidence then available on masks for children; the panelists said scientific dissent is exactly what should not be removed.

Sources

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