YouTube demonetized a song critical of coronavirus czar Anthony Fauci this week, claiming the song violated its terms of services.
The song, “Sad Little Man,” alleges Fauci is lying about the coronavirus pandemic and describes Fauci as “dead in his soul.”
The first verse says: “Sad little man sitting deep in a lie/ He’s dead in his soul but he’ll keep you alive/ Do what he says, not what he do/ ‘Cause the truth is for him and the lie is for you.”
The third verse goes: “Sad little man gonna trap you like a dog/ Put your head in a net while they eat you raw/ Don’t ask why, just comply/ ‘Cause fear is the drug that the doc prescribed.”
The song never mentions the coronavirus directly, but YouTube flagged it for “medical misinformation,” according to the artist responsible for the song, Five Times August.
Shortly after, the video was slapped with a warning that its ads had been limited “due to content identified as not suitable for most advertisers.”
Oh here we go again @TeamYouTube ?♂️ You guys are unreal. pic.twitter.com/N1uQthAZC0
— Five Times August (@FiveTimesAugust) November 16, 2021
YouTube then informed Five Times August, whose personal name is Brad Skistimas, that his song had been demonetized completely.
We appreciate your patience — our team confirmed that your video is ineligible for full monetization due to violating our policies on Medical Misinformation. More info here: https://t.co/1QaeHtxQmy
— TeamYouTube (@TeamYouTube) November 20, 2021
Skistimas said YouTube tried to take down his video once before but eventually reinstated it.
However, he said it is very difficult to find on the platform and on Google, which owns YouTube.
“Just as the video was reaching peak traffic I started receiving user comments about how difficult the video was to find and that it was not appearing in search results,” he said. “It wasn’t until I called YouTube out publicly on Twitter did the original upload magically appear back in search results but Google/YouTube never explained or gave reason to any of this and who knows how many views and potential subscribers I lost due to this.”
