YouTube changes rules to ban 5G conspiracy talk from platform

Google-owned YouTube has altered its community guidelines to ensure all conspiracy theories which suggest 5G is the cause or an accelerator of COVID-19 are removed from the platform.

Under the previous guidelines, such content would be labelled as borderline and therefore would be removed from the recommendation engines. YouTube would stop short of eradicating the content from the platform completely, there are of course free-speech complications, but these rules have now been amended.

All content which makes claims linking 5G as a cause of the coronavirus or suggests the mobile technology somehow aids the spread of the virus will be banned from the video platform.

This might be considered a violation of rights by the idiotic conspiracy theorists or the gullible fools who would believe such dribble, but it is fake news and should be treated as such. The communications infrastructure is far too important in combatting COVID-19 and for the recovery efforts, that everything possible should be done to protect it, including tackling misinformation campaigns.

The change in approach from YouTube was perhaps inspired by a weekend which saw dozens of telecoms masts, the very communications infrastructure used by emergency services, attacked by simpletons, some of whom believed the virus was a hoax to cover-up the ill-effects of radio frequency radiation. Others believed 5G suppresses the immune the system and a few have suggested the virus is somehow using it to communicate or transfer to new hosts.

The claims are amazingly ridiculous, on par with the escapades of Spongebob Squarepants, though there are still some in society who listen and are subsequently inspired into criminal action.

Representatives of the social media fraternity are due to sit down with UK Government officials to discuss the dissemination of misinformation. This might have spurred YouTube into action, though videos on its platform which encouraged violence and vandalism would of course have gotten executives twitchy.

This of course will not be the end of the ridiculous theories which cause damage to society, and we suspect there will be other ways for the tinfoil hat army to find their daily fix of fantasy, but at least YouTube is not going to be assisting the ludicrous adventures of delusional nincompoops.

Should content fall into either of the categories below, it will now be removed from the YouTube platform.