Video behemoth YouTube completely deplatformed the pro-life news outlet LifeSiteNews on Wednesday, removing every single one of its videos from the website.

The news outlet stated on Wednesday that YouTube had “permanently” shut down its channel “without warning or explanation” and removed tens of thousands of hours of “pro-life, pro-family, pro-freedom Christian news coverage.”

Prior to their channel being removed, the outlet had over 300,000 subscribers.

“This is no longer a game of trying to play by the Tech Titans’ arbitrary, leftist, virtue-signaling rules,” LifeSiteNews said regarding YouTube’s decision. “We are in a war waged by left-wing liberals seeking to annihilate all conservative voices.”

“It’s crystal clear: YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and the others have now fully weaponized their platforms against conservatives in general and orthodox Christians in particular,” it added.

In an email to The Daily Citizen, a spokesperson for YouTube said the company had removed LifeSiteNews for violating its COVID-19 misinformation policy.

“In accordance with our long-standing strikes system, we terminated the channel LifeSite News Media for repeatedly violating our COVID-19 misinformation policy, which prohibits content that promotes prevention methods that contradict local health authorities or WHO,” the spokesperson said.

“Any channel that violates our COVID-19 misinformation policy will receive a strike, which temporarily restricts uploading or live-streaming. Channels that receive three strikes in the same 90-day period will be permanently removed from YouTube.”

A spokesperson for LifeSiteNews told The Daily Citizen that because their account has been completely revoked, they have no way of knowing whether the ban is permanent and they are unable to file an appeal with YouTube.

“LifeSiteNews has only posted a few new videos to our channel in the last week, because we just recently got access back after a previous ban that lasted two weeks. One of the videos posted this week was of our co-founder, John-Henry Westen, who mentioned a tweet from a Catholic bishop who talked about aborted baby cells used in medicines and vaccines,” the spokesperson said. “YouTube, of course, has not informed us as to whether this factual remark is what caused them to delete our account.”

“It seems that every video we have posted that speaks the truth about the connection between vaccines and aborted babies was shut down. If we gave a platform to medical professionals who discussed the vaccines, masks, or other COVID related topics and to pro-life, pro-family, and faith leaders who spoke out against unconstitutional lockdowns of churches, we were censored…

“Fortunately, we have taken pre-emptive measures to ensure the truth will continue to reach those who need it during these challenging times. We are active on various other platforms. You can find us on Rumble, Gab, Telegram, and MeWe, and please encourage others to join us there,” the spokesperson added.

YouTube’s official policy, updated on May 20, 2020, states, “If your content violates [the COVID-19 misinformation policy], we’ll remove the content and send you an email to let you know. If this is your first time violating our Community Guidelines, you’ll get a warning with no penalty to your channel. If it’s not, we’ll issue a strike against your channel. If you get 3 strikes, your channel will be terminated.”

This doesn’t seem to jibe with LifeSiteNews’ contention that YouTube permanently removed its account “without warning or explanation.”

The organization is encouraging readers to view its video content on alternative social media platforms including on Rumble.

This is not the first time YouTube has removed content from a news outlet. The company previously censored The Daily Citizen, removing a video of our coverage of former President Donald Trump’s rally in Dalton, Georgia on January 4, for claims the president made about voter fraud. However, a search on YouTube pulls up dozens of other full-length videos of the president’s rally.

YouTube, owned by parent company Google, is the second most-visited website in the world where viewers watch more than one billion hours of content each day.

You can follow this author on Parler @ZacharyMettler

Photo from Ink Drop / Shutterstock.com