YouTube on Wednesday suspended Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., for a week for his false claims that masks are ineffective against the spread of COVID-19.

“The masks you get over the counter don’t work. They don’t prevent infection,” Paul said.

A spokesperson for YouTube said the company had removed the video from Paul’s channel and issued a “first strike on the channel,” meaning he would not be able to upload content for a week.

“We apply our policies consistently across our platform, regardless of speaker or political views, and we make exceptions for videos that have additional context such as countervailing views from local health authorities,” the statement read.

Paul called the suspension “dangerous and anti-free speech."

“I haven’t lied, I haven’t used expletives. I haven’t spread misinformation. I have only told the truth about what our government seeks to do to us, curtailing our most basic liberties, using the COVID-19 pandemic as their excuse,” Paul said.

He also referred to the temporary suspension as a “badge of honor.”

“I think private companies have the right to ban me if they want to, so in this case I’ll just channel that frustration into ensuring the public knows Youtube is acting as an arm of the government and censoring their users for contradicting the government,” Paul said.

Paul has publicly clashed with Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other public health experts have maintained that masks prevent the spread of COVID-19.

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