Enlarge image
Sky News Australia YouTube channel (screenshot)
Photo: YouTube / Sky News Australia
Australia is fighting against the Delta variant.
Millions of people have been in lockdown for weeks, but the virus situation is still not under control.
And on the fifth continent, too, there is a growing problem with misinformation when it comes to Covid-19.
In a remarkable step, YouTube has now blocked the channel of the TV broadcaster Sky News Australia.
The reason given by the video platform was that the channel had repeatedly violated the guidelines against false medical information.
As reported by the Guardian, among others, the existence of Covid-19 was questioned in videos.
In addition, the viewers were advised to take funds whose usefulness can at least be questioned.
It was also about the agent hydroxychloroquine, which has considerable side effects and a low effectiveness against the virus.
Sky News Australia's YouTube channel has around 1.85 million subscribers.
Initially, the ban is valid for one week.
If a channel is blocked three times within 90 days, the ban becomes permanent.
Sky News called the act an "attack on freedom of thought."
YouTube did not disclose which videos were specifically denounced.
However, the lock came a day after another media controversy.
It was about the commentator Alan Jones.
He had railed against the lockdown measures in the Sky News TV program and described the senior representative of the health authority in the state of New South Wales as a "village idiot".
Also Brisbane in strict lockdown
Australia had long been able to contain the pandemic to a large extent by closing its borders, quickly imposing lockdowns in the event of outbreaks and intensive contact tracing.
However, only around 13 percent of the population are fully vaccinated against the coronavirus and the number of infections has been increasing for a month due to the highly contagious Delta variant.
Sydney, the largest city in the country, has been in lockdown for weeks.
However, the restrictions have so far not slowed the spread of the virus there.
The police now want to crack down on people who do not adhere to the curfew.
The city of Brisbane has also been in a tough lockdown since the weekend.
jok