RUSSIA VAX LIES SILENCED

MOSCOW: Russia has threatened to ban YouTube and block German news websites after the video-sharing giant took down two online channels run by Russia Today, the Kremlin-funded TV station, as part of a broad purge of anti-vaccine material.

YouTube said it had deleted Russia Today’s Germanlanguage channels RT DE and Der Fehlende Part for repeated breaches of its policies on spreading misinformation.

The Google-owned site said it was removing videos that pose a “serious risk of egregious harm” to viewers, including those that claim vaccines “cause autism, cancer or infertility, or that substances in vaccines can track those who receive them”.

Russia is accused of an online disinformation campaign against Western vaccines to try to further its own vaccine and strategic interests.