YouTube plans to delete all information it considers false about currently administered vaccines that had been approved and confirmed as safe and effective by the World Health Organization and by local health officials, the company's Vice President Matt Halprin said.
Halprin explained YouTube will block all content that accuses vaccines of creating significant health problems, including cancer, autism and other serious disorders.
In the months that followed the launch of the COVID-19 vaccine misinformation policy, YouTube observed content and realized there appeared to be an interaction between general vaccine hesitancy that was being promoted on the platform and COVID-19 vaccine misinformation. YouTube management said they felt the need to address both.
"Since last year, we’ve removed over 130,000 videos for violating our COVID-19 vaccine policies," the YouTube team said.
At the same time, YouTube will allow scientific discussions about the content of specific clinical trials and historical videos about vaccines.