Sky News Australia has been suspended by YouTube after breaching its COVID-19 misinformation policy. 

Videos on Sky News Australia's channel have been taken down and the channel made unavailable for a week. 

YouTube has issued a statement saying it has “clear and established COVID-19 medical misinformation policies based on local and global health authority guidance, to prevent the spread of COVID-19 misinformation”. 

YouTube’s policies state it will not allow videos to be uploaded which pose a risk or harm to people, or which contradicts health guidelines including advice about COVID-19 treatment, prevention, transmission, and social distancing.

It explicitly mentioned videos that encourage people “to use hydroxychloroquine or ivermectin to treat or prevent the virus”. 

“We apply our policies equally for everyone regardless of uploader and, in accordance with these policies and our long-standing strikes system, removed videos from and issued a strike to Sky News Australia's channel,” YouTube said.

Sky News Australia, which is a subsidiary of News Corp Australia, has responded, saying it was censored for merely discussing COVID-19.

The channel says none of its broadcasters have “ever denied the existence of COVID-19 as was implied, and no such videos were ever published or removed”.

“We support broad discussion and debate on a wide range of topics and perspectives, which is vital to any democracy,” a Sky News Australia spokesperson said.

“We take our commitment to meeting editorial and community expectations seriously.”