US technology company Facebook Inc (Nasdaq:FB) and YouTube, an American online video sharing and social media platform owned by Alphabet Inc (Nasdaq:GOOGL), have removed a video by Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro from their platforms in which he has made a false claim that COVID-19 vaccines were linked with developing AIDS, Reuters news agency reported on Tuesday.
Both Facebook and YouTube said the video, which was recorded on 21 October 2021, violated their policies.
A Facebook spokesperson stated on Monday: "Our policies don't allow claims that COVID-19 vaccines kill or seriously harm people."
YouTube also confirmed in a statement: "We removed a video from Jair Bolsonaro's channel for violating our medical disinformation policy regarding COVID-19 for alleging that vaccines don't reduce the risk of contracting the disease and that they cause other infectious diseases."
Brazils' national newspapers O Estado de S. Paulo and O Globo, citing a source familiar with the matter, reported that in addition to removing the video, YouTube has suspended Bolsonaro for seven days.
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