Twitter and YouTube have censored AYTU BioScience, a publicly-traded Colorado-based pharmaceutical company, after it promoted ultraviolet (UV) light developed in conjunction with Cedars-Sinai Medical Center as a potential treatment for the Chinese virus. Twitter later reversed its censorship, saying the company’s account was “mistakenly” caught in a spam filter.
AYTU is publicly traded on the NASDAQ index. In its research on UV light treatment for the coronavirus, it is working with Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, a major hospital in Los Angeles. The hospital was founded in 1902 and employs over 2,000 physicians.
More information about the “Healight” UV Light treatment being researched by AYTU and Cedars-Sinai can be found on the latter’s website.
Healight! @BioscienceAytu is excited to be working with the MAST team at Cedars-Sinai – UV-A light potential treatment for #coronavirus $AYTU @MarkPimentelMD @RuchiMathurMD @AliRezaieMD @gym99 @jarrettdisbrow https://t.co/ceFOk9tICG
— Josh Disbrow (@josh_disbrow) April 25, 2020
UV light has recently been discussed by President Donald Trump as a potential treatment for the coronavirus, leading to a slew of articles from the mainstream media condemning his comments as “dangerous.”
For example, the New York Times recently published a piece titled “Trump Muses About Light as Remedy, but Also Disinfectant, Which Is Dangerous.” The article highlights the links between UV light, a natural byproduct of sunlight that is also used in indoor tanning facilities, and skin cancer. Business Insider quoted experts who called Trump’s UV light comments “exceedingly dangerous,” while NBC News suggested the treatment is being pushed by “conspiracy theorists.”
YouTube and Twitter both took down material from AYTU BioScience, a pharmaceutical company that is investigating UV light treatment as a potential treatment for Wuhan coronavirus. Twitter briefly banned AYTU’s official account, while YouTube has taken down a video from the company about UV light treatment.
UPDATE: @Twitter just suspended the account of the publicly traded biotech company AYTU BioScience that created a novel COVID-19 treatment approach utilizing UV light in the lungs that @realDonaldTrump was talking about.
This is ridiculous! https://t.co/4zwadZr9Yn pic.twitter.com/df9Qkbfmuk
— Mike Coudrey (@MichaelCoudrey) April 26, 2020
Twitter later reversed its censorship and reinstated AYTU’s account. A Twitter spokeswoman said the account had been mistakenly banned after it was caught in a spam filter, and that this has now been reversed.
AYTU’s video about UV treatment remains banned on YouTube. It was taken down by the Google-owned company after New York Times reporter David Alba reached out to the tech giant.
I contacted YouTube about this video, which is being shared on tons of replies on Twitter & on Facebook, by people asserting that it backs up Trump's idea throwing it out there that UV rays kill coronavirus.
YouTube just said it removed it for violating its community guidelines. pic.twitter.com/gbs5Igq0yy
— Davey Alba (@daveyalba) April 24, 2020
Attempts to access the video now return a message saying the video has been banned for violating YouTube’s community guidelines.
Google has yet to return Breitbart News’ request for comment about the video’s removal. Breitbart News also requested comment from AYTU Bioscience but did not receive a response before publishing.
Are you an insider at Google, Reddit, Facebook, Twitter, or any other tech company who wants to confidentially reveal wrongdoing or political bias at your company? Reach out to Allum Bokhari at his secure email address allumbokhari@protonmail.com.
Allum Bokhari is the senior technology correspondent at Breitbart News.
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