Profoundly disappointing Sky News boss Paul Whittaker takes YouTube suspension to global CEO

Sky News boss Paul Whittaker has taken his concerns about a seven-day YouTube ban to the top of the video-sharing company, telling global chief executive Susan Wojcicki that the platform’s editorial policies are “inconsistent”.

Mr Whittaker expressed disappointment about the way the review of the ban was handled, as Sky News’ suspension was lifted and the 24-hour news channel posted its first video - “Uncancelled: Sky News Australia set free” - on the platform.

The News Corp-controlled channel was banned from YouTube more than a week ago after it received a “strike” for a clip from May 3 of controversial broadcaster Alan Jones speaking about the worsening COVID-19 situation in India.

Sky News boss Paul Whittaker has asked for clarification about last week’s YouTube ban from chief executive Susan Wojcicki.

“The manner in which YouTube conducted its review, suspension and media statements concerning the Sky News Australia channel is profoundly disappointing,” Mr Whittaker said in the letter, seen by The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.

YouTube’s Australian director of partnerships, Ed Miles, informed the 24-hour news channel that its account on the Google-owned video sharing site had been suspended for one week on July 29. A further 14 videos were removed in addition to the clip of Jones from May, but Sky News was not provided with specific reasons for the breach.

A spokesperson for YouTube issued a statement last Sunday, initially saying it did not allow content that “denies the existence of COVID-19”. A statement from YouTube was altered to say it did not allow medical misinformation about COVID-19 that posed a serious risk of harm, or that was in contradiction with local and global health authorities’ guidance.

Sky News hosts such as Rowan Dean and Jones have previously made controversial and misleading remarks regarding COVID-19, mask use, lockdowns and vaccinations. Jones has issued two corrections to comments he has made - one related to his stance on vaccinations and the other regarding misinformation he presented with renegade federal MP Craig Kelly about COVID-19, vaccination safety and the Delta strain.

In one video, Dean called an incident about the removal of a family from a flight after their two-year-old child could not be fitted with a mask “evil” and “authoritarianism”.

Mr Whittaker said in the letter that no host had said COVID-19 does not exist. He said YouTube has ignored written and oral requests to correct previous statements about its denial of COVID-19’s existence, and asked Ms Wojcicki for confirmation that any historical content would not be subject to further notices from YouTube.

Paul Whittaker has written to the head of YouTube about the channel’s seven-day ban.Credit:Tash Sorensen

He also said the guidelines were impossible to comply with because of the changing medical information being distributed by the World Health Organisation and Australia’s federal and state governments and health authorities, based on changing data. Mr Whittaker said that at times, the WHO’s advice has been in conflict with local advice from health authorities.

“YouTube’s editorial policies concerning COVID-19 are internally inconsistent, and incapable of compliance,” he said. “Not only is YouTube’s policy incapable of compliance, the process for review and removal of content on the YouTube platform suffers from an absence of transparency and a clearly articulated process which affords operators of YouTube channels the opportunity to address YouTube’s concerns or to challenge an assessment.”

In the video that led to the ban, Jones claimed that COVID-19 was not by definition a pandemic due to the number of deaths globally and that the death toll in India was not as bad as what the news had made out. The WHO designated COVID-19 a pandemic in March last year.

But despite the suspension, the video that caused Sky News’ ban was still available on another YouTube account until Friday. It was taken down after its existence was mentioned in an article published in this masthead. YouTube frequently updates its COVID-19 misinformation guidelines and takes down posts that do not meet those guidelines.

Suspension of an account - or a “strike” - only takes place if someone has violated the policy and already received a warning. Sky received that warnings in December when two videos were removed. The decision prompted a close review of Sky News content by its executives and a renewed attempt to comply with the updated guidelines.

The Senate’s media diversity inquiry has called executives from Sky News, YouTube and the media watchdog, the ACMA, to give evidence at a hearing in Parliament House on August 13.

Zoe Samios is a media and telecommunications reporter at The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.

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