YouTube Suspends Sky News Australia Account Over Ivermectin Content

JAKARTA - Sky News Australia's video channel has been suspended for a week after YouTube checked their content's compliance with its COVID-19 reporting policies.

"Sky News Australia recognizes YouTube's right to enforce its policies and looks forward to continuing to broadcast popular news content and analysis to subscribers in the near future," Sky News said in a statement on its website regarding the account suspension.

The 24-hour television and broadcast channel with 1.85 million subscribers on YouTube is managed by Australian News Channel Pty Ltd and is a subsidiary of News Corp Australia.

YouTube, the video-sharing platform owned by Google, confirmed the suspension.

"We apply the same policy to everyone and in accordance with that policy and our long-standing suspension system, (we) removed videos from the Sky News Australia channel and suspended their accounts," a YouTube spokesperson said.

The Australian media reported the week-long suspension was published on Thursday, 29 July after YouTube conducted a review of their content allegedly denying the existence of COVID-19 or encouraging people to use hydrochloroquine or ivermectin in the treatment of COVID-19 patients, without providing a balanced context.