YouTube bans Fox News host Dan Bongino for evading suspension
Fox News host Dan Bongino is no longer welcome on YouTube. The company confirmed to The Hill that Bongino is now permanently banned from its video platform, after he attempted to evade a prior suspension related to COVID-19 misinformation. The conservative commentator apparently published a video on his main channel while another channel was suspended, thereby violating YouTube’s Terms of Service. Bongino’s two channels have been removed from the service, and he won’t be able to make any future channels, YouTube representatives told The Hill.
Last September, YouTube announced that it would ban all content related to vaccine misinformation, which was an expansion on its previous ban against COVID-19 misinformation. At the time, YouTube also banned prominent anti-vax proponents like Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Joseph Mercola.
Bongino, and many other conservative commentators, have moved over to the alternative video platform Rumble (where he also holds an equity stake). He currently has over 2 million subscribers there, whereas his primary channel had 900,000 subscribers on YouTube.
Update 1/26/22 5:57pm ET: “When a channel receives a strike, it is against our Terms of Service to post content or use another channel to circumvent the suspension,” YouTube said in a statement. “If a channel is terminated, the uploader is unable to use, own or create any other YouTube channels.”
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