Conservative pundit says YouTube blocked interview with Rand Paul

Conservative pundit Clay Travis said YouTube has blocked the publication of an interview with Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) on its platform.

"YouTube has refused to post our ... interview with [Paul]," Travis said in a tweet on Monday. "Think about this for a moment: YouTube is disallowing a doctor and sitting US senator's interview to be shared. This is madness."

YouTube did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but the interview did not appear on "The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show" page as of Monday afternoon.

In a statement to The Hill on Monday, Paul said the tech company's apparent decision is an example of "exactly why I decided to leave YouTube."

"The truth comes from disputation and those who believe the marketplace of ideas is a prerequisite for innovation should shun the close-minded censors and take our ideas elsewhere," the Republican senator said.

Paul, an eye doctor, has been a leading critic of public health experts and epidemiologists such as Anthony Fauci who have argued that vaccines are safe and the most effective way to protect people from the coronavirus.

The interview with Paul was posted last week on Rumble, an alternative video platform used by conservatives who say their viewpoints are being suppressed or "censored" by major tech companies such as Google, Amazon and Twitter. Google owns YouTube.

During the interview, Paul argued that the risk factors associated with getting vaccinated, especially among young adolescent males, are greater than the risk factors associated with contracting the coronavirus.

"It really is a crime against these children that prominent universities in our country are mandating something that is complete malpractice as far as I'm concerned," Paul said.

YouTube has previously punished the accounts of conservative figures who it says have spread misinformation relating to the pandemic. The company temporarily suspended the account of Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) after he falsely claimed that coronavirus vaccines are unsafe.

Earlier this month, a group of 85 fact-checking organizations penned an open letter to the company asking it to do more to combat the spread of false information relating to the pandemic, calling its content moderation efforts to date "insufficient."