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YouTube bans coronavirus-related content that directly contradicts WHO advice

bbc.com

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Re: YouTube bans coronavirus-related content that directly contradicts WHO advice

#851

Post by Retric »

logifail wrote: post #121

Current WHO advice: "If you are healthy, you only need to wear a mask if you are taking care of a person with COVID-19." [0] Where we live, due to local laws , we are now obliged to wear a mask to go shopping. Can one discuss that on YouTube, or would one be contradicting the WHO? I fear there isn't "one truth" out there, despite the content providers' and fact-checkers' attempts :( We keep trying to encourage our ki…

WHO guidelines around masks are not being contradicted by local laws. Both say masks are useful to reduce the spread.

That’s different than saying 5g causes the disease, or worse hand washing compromises the immune system and should be avoided.

Re: YouTube bans coronavirus-related content that directly contradicts WHO advice

#852

Post by captainbland »

logifail wrote: post #121

Current WHO advice: "If you are healthy, you only need to wear a mask if you are taking care of a person with COVID-19." [0] Where we live, due to local laws , we are now obliged to wear a mask to go shopping. Can one discuss that on YouTube, or would one be contradicting the WHO? I fear there isn't "one truth" out there, despite the content providers' and fact-checkers' attempts :( We keep trying to encourage our ki…

I think that would only be contradictory if the WHO advice said strictly don't wear a mask otherwise. In this case you're still free to choose to wear a mask even if the WHO doesn't say you should, or if local laws require it so it's not a contradiction even though it's not the exact same advice/requirement.

Re: YouTube bans coronavirus-related content that directly contradicts WHO advice

#853

Post by aembleton »

captainbland wrote: post #852
logifail wrote: post #121

Current WHO advice: "If you are healthy, you only need to wear a mask if you are taking care of a person with COVID-19." [0] Where we live, due to local laws , we are now obliged to wear a mask to go shopping. Can one discuss that on YouTube, or would one be contradicting the WHO? I fear there isn't "one truth" out there, despite the content providers' and fact-checkers' attempts :( We keep trying to encourage our ki…

I think that would only be contradictory if the WHO advice said strictly don't wear a mask otherwise. In this case you're still free to choose to wear a mask even if the WHO doesn't say you should, or if local laws require it so it's not a contradiction even though it's not the exact same advice/requirement.

Do the WHO tell you not to drink disinfectant? I guess that means it would be fine to release a video saying that this will provide you with protection.

Re: YouTube bans coronavirus-related content that directly contradicts WHO advice

#854

Post by smdz »

logifail wrote: post #121

Current WHO advice: "If you are healthy, you only need to wear a mask if you are taking care of a person with COVID-19." [0] Where we live, due to local laws , we are now obliged to wear a mask to go shopping. Can one discuss that on YouTube, or would one be contradicting the WHO? I fear there isn't "one truth" out there, despite the content providers' and fact-checkers' attempts :( We keep trying to encourage our ki…

In some countries like India, it is mandatory to wear masks. And you could be beaten up by the police, punished, penalized, arrested and jailed for not doing so. That goes completely against the WHO guidelines. Can they ban the country's government?

The mixed messages did leave me confused in the initial stages until major TV channels broadcasted what the government wanted. Until then I thought the news was a rumor.

Re: YouTube bans coronavirus-related content that directly contradicts WHO advice

#855

Post by tantalor »

chrisseaton wrote: post #254
tantalor wrote: post #230

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No I mean it is a typo on the WHO page, I sent them feedback suggesting this phrasing: "Wear a mask if you are healthy and you are taking care of a person with COVID-19."

How do you know they made a typo, rather than that's what they meant?

Hanlon's Razor

Re: YouTube bans coronavirus-related content that directly contradicts WHO advice

#856

Post by La1n »

yellowapple wrote: post #829
La1n wrote: post #818

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>this is an outright lie, given that the sheer number of people by that point who were hospitalized with the virus without ever having visited the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market would be, I would argue, evidence. Oh yes, the random programmer who know public health better than actual public health experts. You have not done the research, you were not there. You can argue it's evidence, but arguing something is, is n…

> Oh yes, the random programmer who know public health better than actual public health experts. Apparently yes, given that it's a bit of a smoking gun. Namely because: > the Huanan Seafood Market was suspected as a source of the virus but it could have come from somewhere else too. It was (to my knowledge) the only suspected source for quite a while (up until the later discovery that the currently-known "patient zer…

>It was (to my knowledge) the only suspected source for quite a while

Yes, but the only suspect does not mean conclusive evidence.

>Plus, China knew as early as 31 December that the "novel coronavirus" was related to SARS (leaking that info is what got Dr. Li Wenliang in trouble),

This is untrue, Li Wenliang said it was SARS, and it's actually another virus. He did not know it was related to SARS but assumed it was SARS due to the symptoms.

edit: secondly he did not leak the information, he send it in a private chat to friends, one of whom leaked it.

Re: YouTube bans coronavirus-related content that directly contradicts WHO advice

#857

Post by Timpy »

stcredzero wrote: post #270
logifail wrote: post #121

Current WHO advice: "If you are healthy, you only need to wear a mask if you are taking care of a person with COVID-19." [0] Where we live, due to local laws , we are now obliged to wear a mask to go shopping. Can one discuss that on YouTube, or would one be contradicting the WHO? I fear there isn't "one truth" out there, despite the content providers' and fact-checkers' attempts :( We keep trying to encourage our ki…

I fear there isn't "one truth" out there, despite the content providers' and fact-checkers' attempts :( The idea is: "We are the decent, good, people who know the truth. Now we control the platforms, so it's only well and good we control the information, and we tell the deplorable others what they can and can't say." Almost everyone in the history books as a horrible oppressor has told themselves that narrative. Many…

There doesn't have to be one truth, there can be a landscape of truths and that's fine. Imagine a youtube personality with a large following made some absurd claim like "drinking bleach will help." You don't need to be a self proclaimed silicone prophet and be wiser and smarter than everyone else in history to censor that video, it's possible to stop stupid people from influencing other stupid people into doing serious damage without oppressing anybody. Imagine if the claim wasn't just inflicting self harm, but encouraging a bad meme that will spread the virus.

Re: YouTube bans coronavirus-related content that directly contradicts WHO advice

#858

Post by SquishyPanda23 »

aww_dang wrote: post #663
SquishyPanda23 wrote: post #608

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, the idea is "there is a massive coordinated disinformation campaign designed to make the pandemic worse, what, if anything should we do to address it?" There are two obvious options (and lots of options in between). (1) Do nothing. Pros: the propaganda gets clicks, which means revenue. The armchair libertarians are happy because nation states continue to have the freedom to saturate all communication channels wit…

>'The armchair libertarians...Hayek fairy tale...' This is noxious. >'YouTube is part of a private company. They're under no obligation to...' This is the free-market, libertarian position.

> This is noxious.

Sure my tone could have been much better. You have a good point.

But political dogmatism is also noxious. Personally I think HN is at its worst when discussions get derailed into a dogmatic recital of political cliches.

> This is the free-market, libertarian position

Right, I'm deliberately framing the issue that way.

Re: YouTube bans coronavirus-related content that directly contradicts WHO advice

#859

Post by mam2 »

manigandham wrote: post #573
kevin_thibedeau wrote: post #514

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is how all news media operated before the internet created mouthpieces for non-professionals. In addition to suppressing some inconvenient truths they filtered out crackpot ideas that have become a plague in modern times.

What exactly qualifies someone to be a "professional" who is allowed to speak? The vast majority of content I watch on Youtube is produced by independent creators covering a variety of topics with much more detail, expertise, and truth than any mainstream program.

Mainstream is not professional.. just look at Fox news if you need convincing.

that say that if you cannot make the difference between an professional (or informed) opinion, and some redneck with the deep belief that the Earth is flat then I cannot do anything for you

Re: YouTube bans coronavirus-related content that directly contradicts WHO advice

#860

Post by serf »

lemmox wrote: post #604
EGreg wrote: post #490

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The CDC guidelines you’ve linked to continue to say surgical masks should be for medical personnel. This is ridiculous!! A mask is a cloth on a string. We are how many months into this thing... why hasn’t our private industry created enough cloths on strings???? What is the shortage? Is it the cloth? It’s because the politicians were reactionary and behind on the most basic things every step of the way. Why not order…

FWIW I found reading about the process of making respirators quite fascinating. It opened up a whole world of reading about nanofibers and the melt blown process that I'd not previously stumbled upon. Turns out good masks aren't just any old fabric - producing unwoven sub-micron nanofiber fabric is quite involved and that fabric is in short supply.

Exactly this. Parent to your comment has no firm grasp on how difficult and expensive it is to place and maintain a melt-blown-fiber shop outside of a crisis, let alone during one.

That said : cotton DIY masks can be quite effective. I recommend buying a box of shop towels, which are made with a similar blowing mechanism that creates a random fiber orientation.

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