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YouTube faces a backlash for deleting a video interview of two California doctors who argued that the coronavirus closings have gone too far, after the video streaming platform said it would not allow content that ‘challenges the efficacy of the guide of the local health authority ‘.
The nearly hour-long video, which was removed on Monday, features Drs. Dan Erickson and Artin Massihi, who run a private urgent care clinic in Bakersfield, California.
Although doctors rely in part on flawed statistical analyzes to make their case, their claim that stay-at-home orders are doing more harm than good attracted a massive audience, garnering more than 5 million views before YouTube removed the video.
They argue that the death rate from coronavirus is minuscule, in their analysis, and that the blocks are detrimental to the provision of normal health care and the functioning of healthy immune systems, as well as being devastating to the economy.
Doctors also share anecdotes, which they say come from colleagues in hospitals, claiming there is pressure to add COVID-19 as a cause of death to unrelated deaths to artificially increase the death toll.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk, an increasingly outspoken critic of the locks, shared the video on Twitter before it was removed, adding the comment: “Doctors make good points.”
It comes as social media giants Facebook and Twitter are also coming under increasing scrutiny for removing posts they say contain erroneous health information or calls to break orders to stay home.
Drs. Dan Erickson and Artin Massihi, who run a private urgent care clinic in Bakersfield, California, held a nearly hour-long press conference on April 22.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk promoted the video before YouTube removed it from the platform
The removal of the YouTube video sparked vocal protests and censorship allegations.
‘This. It is. Censorship. About what could be said to be the most important media platform in the United States, ” tweeted Alex Berenson, a former New York Times reporter who has become one of the strongest skeptics of the blockades.
In an overwhelming opening monologue Tuesday night, Fox News presenter Tucker Carlson also criticized the “ridiculous” measures by big tech companies to control what they call disinformation during the pandemic.
“When all this is over, we are likely to remember this moment, what YouTube has just done, as a turning point in the way we live in this country, a sharp break with 250 years of laws and customs,” said Carlson.
‘The doctor’s video was produced by a local television channel. It was, in fact, top news, ” Carlson continued. “The only justification for removing it was that the on-screen doctors had reached different conclusions than the people currently in charge.”
Last week, YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki told CNN that “anything that goes against the recommendations of the World Health Organization would be a violation of our policy.”
“Consider that for a moment,” Carlson replied. ‘As a matter of science, it is ridiculous. Like everyone else involved in global pandemic policy, WHO has been wrong in its recommendations. In January, the WHO told us that the coronavirus could not be transmitted from person to person. In March, we were told that the masks were not working. Those are lies and were welcomed on Google platforms. ‘
Former CNN producer Steve Krakauer said in his Fourth Watch newsletter that this was a “heinous censorship effort by YouTube” that should be of concern to all journalists.
He added: ‘YouTube can delete this video, of course. But should they? Absolutely not.
‘These doctors were not asking people to cough up other citizens. They weren’t even wondering if injecting disinfectant might be a good idea.
“They were using data to suggest that a Swedish facilitated blocking model could be effective. That is not detrimental to the public.”
Alex Berenson, a former New York Times reporter who has become one of the blockade’s strongest skeptics, harshly criticized YouTube for removing the video.
In an overwhelming opening monologue Tuesday night, Fox News host Tucker Carlson also criticized the “ridiculous” steps tech companies are taking to remove information.
It occurs when the debate on reopening intensifies, with many states moving to ease the restriction.
In a statement to DailyMail.com, a YouTube spokesperson said: ‘We quickly remove flagged content that violates our Community Guidelines, including content that explicitly questions the effectiveness of healthy local authority recommended social distancing guidance that can lead to others to act against that orientation. ‘
“However, content that provides sufficient educational, documentary, scientific, or artistic (EDSA) context is allowed, for example, news coverage of this interview with additional context,” the statement continued.
“Since the start of the pandemic, we have had clear policies against disinformation of COVID-19 and we are committed to continuing to provide timely and useful information at this critical time,” the company added.
YouTube notes that news coverage of the doctors’ press conference, which adds comments and analysis, is still allowed on the platform.
The doctors in the video, Erickson and Massihi, co-owners of Accelerated Urgent Care, which offers Bakersfield’s only private testing site COVID-19.
In the video, which is a recording of a press conference the duo held on April 22, doctors said 12 percent of Californians tested for coronaviruses so far have had a positive result.
They used that figure to extrapolate an estimate that millions in the state have already contracted the virus, and therefore speculate that its death rate is much lower than previously thought.
Doctors speculate that the coronavirus has a fatality rate as low as 0.03 percent, or about a third of the death rate from the common flu.
Experts note that the coronavirus test the doctors refer to was not randomized, and was primarily administered to people who had symptoms or believed they had been exposed.
Random antibody tests in New York suggest a case fatality rate of 0.5 to 0.8 percent, or five to eight times higher than the flu.
Doctors in the video (above) “used methods that are ridiculous to obtain results that are completely implausible,” said an infectious disease expert
Dr. Carl Bergstrom, a biologist at the University of Washington who specializes in models of infectious diseases, compared his extrapolations to “estimating the average height of Americans for players on an NBA court.”
“They have used methods that are ridiculous to get results that are completely implausible,” Bergstrom said.
In a rare statement Monday night, the American College of Emergency Physicians and the American Academy of Emergency Medicine stated that they “emphatically condemn the recent views published by Dr. Daniel Erickson and Dr. Artin Messihi.”
“These reckless and unproven reflections do not speak for medical societies and are inconsistent with current science and epidemiology regarding COVID-19,” the group continued.
“As owners of local urgent care clinics, it appears that these two people are publishing biased and not peer-reviewed data to promote their personal financial interests without regard to public health.”
The two doctors tout their support for President Donald Trump, leading some to accuse them of political motivation in their comments.
Critics of the doctors also point out that non-coronavirus visits to urgent care clinics, such as the one they own, were dramatically reduced in the closings, suggesting they may have a financial reason to ask for the restrictions to be ended. .
While criticism of YouTube for removing controversial videos comes mainly from political conservatives, the left has criticized the company for not removing videos fast enough.
Virginia Sen. Mark Warner, a Democrat, criticized YouTube on Tuesday for videos promoting a conspiracy theory that accused a US Army reservist in Virginia of being the source of the outbreak in Wuhan, China.
Warner’s office contacted YouTube on Monday asking why the company had not removed all the videos targeting the woman, CNN reported.
“It is clear that the general grant of immunity for sites like YouTube has resulted in platforms that are too large and unresponsive to the harm they are promoting,” Warner said, saying Congress must act.
‘Free America Now’: Billionaire Elon Musk Joins Protesters Demanding COVID-19 Locks Up
Billionaire Elon Musk has criticized the coronavirus blockade measures by tweeting ‘Free America Now’ when he joined protesters across the country in demanding that the restrictions be lifted.
The Tesla founder shot a series of tweets Tuesday night protesting the current closure restrictions and applauded some states, such as Texas, that are now restarting their economies.
Musk’s outburst on Twitter came just as he was about to get a $ 750 million payment from a bond scheme that is tied to the electric car maker’s share price.
“FREE AMERICA NOW,” the 48-year-old man tweeted.
The Tesla founder fired a series of tweets late Tuesday protesting against current closure restrictions and applauded some states, such as Texas, that are now restarting their economies.
Billionaire Elon Musk has criticized the coronavirus blockade measures by tweeting ‘Free America Now’ when he joined protesters across the country in demanding that the restrictions be lifted.
Along with a link to a Wall Street Journal op-ed on whether blockades are saving lives, Musk tweeted, “Give people back their freedom!”
He also tweeted a link to a story about Texas lifting some restrictions this week, saying, ‘Bravo Texas.’
Musk later clarified, in response to a tweet from one of his followers, that he believed states should reopen slowly.
“Yes, reopen with proper care and protection, but not all under de facto house arrest,” he tweeted.
Musk had previously struck in Silicon Valley, saying he had become ‘Sanctimonious Valley’ and ‘too much a moral arbiter of the world’.
Musk also tweeted a link to a local news story about Texas lifting some restrictions this week, saying: ‘Bravo Texas’
Along with a link to a Wall Street Journal op-ed on whether blockades are saving lives, Musk tweeted, “Give people back their freedom!”
Home stay orders issued by US governors. USA And subsequent decisions to slowly reopen state economies have become highly charged political issues in recent weeks, as closures have affected the nation’s economy.
People in various states across the country have been protesting against the blockade restrictions.
Meanwhile, Tesla shares rose 10 percent earlier in the week ahead of the company’s release of its quarterly earnings report on Wednesday.
A drop in stocks caused by the coronavirus pandemic led Tesla to close its factory near San Francisco in late March and to unlicensed workers.
The company originally said it would resume operations on May 4, but Bay Area health officials on Monday extended shelter-in-place orders to the end of May.
Protesters gathered Tuesday near the North Carolina Legislative Building to protest current orders to stay home issued by Governor Roy Cooper.
People in various states across the country have been protesting against the blockade restrictions. A rally in San Diego, California drew dozens of protesters on Sunday.
This week’s rally in stocks put Tesla’s market capitalization at $ 145 billion. Important to Musk, his stock market value hit a six-month average of $ 96 billion.
Reaching a six-month average of $ 100 billion would trigger the acquisition of the first of 12 tranches of options granted to Musk to buy Tesla shares as part of his two-year pay package.
Each tranche gives Musk the option to buy 1.69 million Tesla shares at $ 350.02 each. Taking Tesla’s closing Monday stock price of $ 798.75 as an example, Musk could sell those shares for a profit of $ 758 million.
Musk does not receive a salary or cash bonus, only options that are based on market capitalization and Tesla’s milestones for revenue and profit growth.
