Fox News host Dan Bongino was permanently banned by YouTube Wednesday for what the Google-owned service said was an attempt to evade a COVID-19 misinformation suspension.
Bongino, 47, is just the latest of the most-watched conservative commentators to be banned from the platform. Both of his two YouTube channels have been removed from the site.
Reuters reports YouTube had suspended one of Bongino’s YouTube channels on Jan. 20 after he posted a video where he questioned the effectiveness of using masks against the coronavirus, a violation of the company’s pandemic-related misinformation policy.
Bongino’s later attempt to circumvent that one-week suspension by posting from another channel triggered a permanent ban, YouTube said.
“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.
In addition, it appears to be a lifelong ban since Bongino will not be allowed to create any other channels on the tech giant’s platform in the future.
A post on Bongino’s website Wednesday said YouTube had previously suspended the Fox News host for one week after he posted a video in which he quoted Dr. Anthony Fauci, who said on March 8, 2020, “Masks don’t work.”
Reuters explained in their fact-check that the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases director’s remarks do not represent his current stance on face coverings nor the updated guidance issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Earlier this week, Bongino uploaded the video to his YouTube channel titled, “Why I’m Leaving YouTube.” In the video, he explained he was leaving the platform and he would post all of his content exclusively to Rumble, a conservative free speech platform.
In response to the ban, Bongino’s website said, “YouTube attempted a poorly executed ‘you can’t break up with me if I break up with you first’ approach, and decided to ban Dan from the platform he just left and was never going to post to again.”
In a tweet, The Bongino Report said, “They’re claiming we ‘tried to evade suspension.’ Really? By posting a final video LITERALLY titled ‘Why I’m Leaving YouTube’?”
According to Reuters, the Dan Bongino Show channel on YouTube had 882,000 subscribers.
Variety reports Bongino has more than 2 million subscribers on his video channel on Rumble.
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