Rand Paul, a Senator from the state of Kentucky and a member of the Republican party, was suspended from YouTube for seven days for uploading a video that disputed the effectiveness of face masks against COVID-19, according to US media reports citing a spokesperson of the video-based social media platform. The GOP lawmaker called the suspension of his account a “badge of honor”.

The spokesperson of YouTube said in a statement that the ban was put in place as it aligned with the “three strikes policy” of the platform, further elaborating that the user would not be able to upload any content from the account for the next seven days.

“We apply our policies consistently across the 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 spokesperson added, according to reports from CNN.

In a tweet published on Tuesday, the Kentucky lawmaker backed his own statements saying that his claims were based on “peer-reviewed articles”.

He wrote, “Leftwing cretins at YouTube banning me for 7 days for a video that quotes 2 peer-reviewed articles saying cloth masks don’t work” adding that he considers the week long ban on his account a badge of honour, according to reports from CNN.

The tweet was made alongside a link that would direct the viewer to an alternate platform.

In the video, Paul claimed that “most of the masks you get over the counter don’t work. They don’t prevent infection”, according to reports from CNN citing YouTube statements.

The 58-year-old Senator was also heard saying that “trying to shape human behavior isn’t the same as following the actual science which tells us that cloth masks don’t work.”

The news comes on the same day when Marjorie Taylor Greene, a member of the Republican party and a House Representative from the state of Georgia, was temporarily restricted from tweeting after claiming that vaccines for COVID-19 do not work.