YouTube is beefing up its misinformation policies to crack down on anti-vaccine misinformation beyond COVID-19 vaccinations, executives told Axios.

Why it matters: Under the new policy, YouTube will terminate the channels of what it calls prominent vaccine misinformation spreaders, including the channel of the Robert F Kennedy Jr.-affiliated Children's Health Defense Fund.

A viral Facebook post from Physicians for Informed Consent, self-described as a “nonprofit organization focused on science and statistics,” claims that “1 in 9 vaccinated adolescents suffered a severe adverse reaction” from the Pfizer/BioNtech COVID-19 vaccine. 

This is a false claim.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends the use of ivermectin as a treatment for arriving refugees to treat parasitic infections. But a social media post by Dr. Simone Gold, a proponent of ivermectin as a treatment for COVID-19, references the CDC guidance without accurately explaining the reason why refugees are given the drug. The CDC has warned against using ivermectin to prevent or treat COVID-19.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the White House medical adviser on the coronavirus, has responded to rapper Nicki Minaj’s recent comments about the coronavirus vaccine.

Minaj recently suggested that men can become impotent due to the COVID-19 vaccine. Among other things, Minaj said she wants to do more research into the COVID-19 vaccine before she takes it, according to The Associated Press.

Fauci told CNN that Minaj’s comments about men becoming impotent was false.

Dr. Anthony Fauci has been accused by critics of lying after newly released documents appear to contradict his claims that the National Institute of Health did not fund gain-of-function research at China’s Wuhan lab.

Senator Rand Paul led the criticism against Fauci on Tuesday after the documents, obtained by The Intercept, detailed grants given to EcoHealth Alliance — the nonprofit that funneled federal funds to the Wuhan Institute of Virology for bat coronavirus research.

KFOR, an Oklahoma news channel, reported last week that rural hospitals throughout the state were in danger of becoming overwhelmed by victims of a very specific poisoning: overdoses of ivermectin, an anti-parasite drug promoted by vaccine skeptics as a possible treatment for COVID-19.

The story went viral, and was seized upon by the mainstream media. But its central claim is substantially untrue.

Multiple Arkansas inmates reported that, unbeknownst to them, they were given Ivermectin to treat COVID-19. The jail physician who prescribed the drugs is now under investigation by the state medical board.

Several inmates from the Washington County jail said they were told the pills they were given to treat COVID-19 were antibiotics, steroids, and vitamins.

Twitter has permanently suspended former New York Times journalist and author Alex Berenson, a critic of coronavirus lockdowns and mandates, from its platform.

"The account you referenced has been permanently suspended for repeated violations of our COVID-19 misinformation rules," a Twitter spokesperson told Fox News in response to an inquiry Saturday night.

On his Substack page, Berenson subsequently posted a brief message, just over 152 characters, titled, "Goodbye Twitter."

Some of the most popular subreddits are protesting the proliferation of COVID-19 disinformation and conspiracy theories on the platform. Moderators from several high profile subreddits, including r/awww, r/showerthoughts, and r/pics, are now calling on the site to do a better job of curbing the spread of disinformation.