YouTube bans Senator Rand Paul for a week after he posts that cloth masks "don't work"

Republican Senator Rand Paul's YouTube account flatlined last night, and this morning it emerged he'd been handed a weeklong ban after posting Covid misinformation there: a claim that cloth masks are ineffective at preventing transmission of the virus.

A spokesman for YouTube told the Times that the video violated company policy on Covid-19 misinformation, which includes "claims that wearing a mask is dangerous or causes negative physical health effects" or that masks don't play a role in preventing the contraction or transmission of COVID-19.