Washington DC - Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky has been suspended from YouTube for one week after posting a video that falsely claims masks don’t work to limit the spread of Covid-19.

Rand Paul is following in the footsteps of his fellow Republican congressmember Marjorie Taylor Green, who was similarly banned from social media this week for spreading misinformation about coronavirus.

The conservative Paul called it a "badge of honor" to be bounced from the platform, which he accused of censoring him.

"This kind of censorship is very dangerous, incredibly anti-free speech, and truly anti-progress of science," Paul said.

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YouTube initially yanked a video posted by Paul of an interview in which he falsely claimed that masks are ineffective in limiting the spread of the deadly virus.

It suspended him for a week after he posted another video claiming that neither cloth masks nor surgical masks can prevent transmission of Covid-19.

"We apply our policies consistently across the platform, regardless of speaker or political views," a YouTube spokesperson said.

Paul has been one of the most outspoken opponents of public health measures to limit the spread of the pandemic.

He refuses to wear a mask in public and says he doesn’t need to be vaccinated because he previously contracted Covid-19 and recovered.

Doctors say being infected before does not necessarily protect one from contracting Covid again, especially since new variants of the virus may evade natural antibodies.

Since his ban on Tuesday, he has continued to retweet anti-mask rhetoric and protests claiming free speech on his Twitter.