YouTube Yanks Videos From Brazil's Bolsonaro

Platform accuses him of spreading misinformation about COVID
By Arden Dier,  Newser Staff
Posted Jul 22, 2021 12:51 PM CDT
YouTube Removes Bolsonaro's COVID Videos
Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro speaks to reporters as he leaves the hospital after recovering from an intestinal obstruction in Sao Paulo, Brazil, on Sunday.   (AP Photo/Nelson Antoine)

YouTube has removed some 15 videos posted by Brazil President Jair Bolsonaro that spread misinformation about COVID-19. The platform says it does not allow content "that states that hydroxychloroquine and/or ivermectin are effective in treating or preventing Covid-19, that states there is a cure for the disease, or says that masks do not work to prevent the spread of the virus," as Bolsonaro's videos reportedly did, per the BBC and Guardian. In one deleted video, Brazil's former health minister Eduardo Pazuello had compared coronavirus with AIDS, per the BBC. Bolsonaro was still posting new videos Thursday.

The decision to remove the videos came only days after Bolsonaro was released from a Sao Paulo hospital, where he was admitted due to abdominal pain and hiccups and had to be fed with a tube, per the AP. YouTube says it was made "after careful review" and was unrelated to Bolsonario’s job or politics. Twitter and Facebook also removed videos in which Bolsonaro spoke about the coronavirus pandemic last year. He'd balked at social distancing measures in one, per the BBC. The scandal-plagued 66-year-old has been heavily criticized for his handling of the pandemic and is now seeing the lowest approval ratings of his presidency. (More Jair Bolsonaro stories.)

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