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DarkHorse podcast promotes ivermectin; YouTube demonetizes Weinstein channels

Evolutionary biologists Bret Weinstein and Heather Heying used DarkHorse — amplified by Rogan appearances and a Bill Maher slot — to argue ivermectin was a near-prophylactic for COVID-19 and to question mRNA vaccine safety; YouTube demonetized both channels under its medical-misinformation policy. Weinstein framed demonetization as punishing inquiry; FDA, CDC, and WHO warned against ivermectin for COVID amid rising poison-control cases, and large RCTs (TOGETHER, PRINCIPLE) later found no clinically meaningful benefit.

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  • •Exact demonetization date not pinned in source (June 2021 per contemporary reporting)

Linked sources

A Progressive Biologist From Portland Is One of the Nation's Leading Advocates for Ivermectin (Willamette Week)
Tier 3 · news · Sept. 15, 2021; documents DarkHorse quotes, Rogan appearances, and YouTube demonetization

Related contentions

Early treatment and repurposed drugs: dismissed or properly tested?

Unresolved. The efficacy question for ivermectin in COVID-19 is largely settled against benefit in the major RCTs, but the dispute over the tone and legality of the FDA's messaging — and over whether early dismissal distorted research and prescribing — remains contested in court (Apter v. HHS, revived by the Fifth Circuit in 2023 and later settled with the FDA removing the posts) and in public debate.