YouTube mistakenly suspended and then reinstated a UK radio station channel backed by billionaire media mogul Rupert Murdoch, a spokesman for the video platform confirmed to The Hill on Tuesday.
The company said the TalkRadio account, which belongs to Murdoch’s News Corp., originally conflicted with YouTube’s policies on disclosing incorrect information from COVID-19.
“The TalkRadio YouTube channel was briefly suspended, but after further analysis, it was reinstated,” said the spokesman. “We make exceptions for material posted for educational, documentary, scientific or artistic purposes, as was considered in this case.”
It was unclear what content triggered the initial suspension. A YouTube spokesman did not respond when asked for more details.
“YouTube is making decisions about what opinions the public is allowed to hear, even when they are provided to responsible and regulated news providers,” said TalkRadio in a statement.
Despite the radio saying that the channel was still down, the account was accessible and its videos were visible at the time of publication.
YouTube has already taken action against news networks that say it spreads information about the coronavirus that goes against the consensus of public health institutions.
The platform suspended the pro-Trump One America News Network from posting new videos for a week last November for claiming that there is a guaranteed cure for COVID-19.