YouTube Permanently Bans Dan Bongino
Dan Bongino is now among the prominent Trump supporters to be permanently banned from YouTube, a week after the Google-owned video service said he had posted COVID-19 misinformation.
YouTube had suspended one of Bongino’s channels earlier this month 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. He later attempted to circumvent that one-week suspension by posting from another channel, which then triggered a permanent ban, YouTube said.
YouTube has added more rules around COVID-19 content as the pandemic has worn on. Last September, it banned conservative anti-vaxxer Joseph Mercola, as well as Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has repeatedly compared the vaccines to the Holocaust, for spreading misinformation about the vaccines.
Well done, @YouTube. 👏 https://t.co/bIbve699PY
— The Lincoln Project (@ProjectLincoln) January 26, 2022
“We terminated Dan Bongino’s channels for circumventing our Terms of Service by posting a video while there was an active strike and suspension associated with the account,” a YouTube rep said in a press statement. “When a channel receives a strike, it is against our Terms of Service to post content or use another channel to circumvent the suspension. If a channel is terminated, the uploader is unable to use, own or create any other YouTube channels.”
Dan Bongino has been permanently banned from YouTube.
Tots and pears. 😂
— BrooklynDad_Defiant! (@mmpadellan) January 26, 2022
Bongino had earlier this week claimed he was going to boycott YouTube. His Dan Bongino Show channel on had amassed nearly 900,000 subscribers since it was created in 2013.
just because dan bongino looks like robocop with his helmet off doesn't mean he deserves to be banned from youtube. the punishment does not fit the crime
— Patrick Cosmos (@veryimportant) January 26, 2022
Bongino had tweeted about his initial suspension last week, saying it “didn’t surprise him” and that he planned to continue posting videos on Rumble, a YouTube-style service popular among conservatives. Bongino wrote that he had double the number of followers on Rumble as on YouTube.
Between justice Breyer retiring and Dan Bongino getting bounced from YouTube, it’s been a pretty solid day.
— Molly Jong-Fast (@MollyJongFast) January 26, 2022