Dr. Joseph Mercola removed from major platforms and payment processors
Osteopathic physician Joseph Mercola had his Instagram account removed in November 2021, his content demonetized by YouTube, his email lists throttled by Mailchimp, and his access to services including PayPal restricted after being named in the 'Disinformation Dozen' report.
Beginning in 2021, Dr. Joseph Mercola, an Illinois-licensed osteopathic physician and operator of Mercola.com, faced coordinated platform enforcement following the CCDH 'Disinformation Dozen' report and White House statements. Instagram permanently disabled his account on November 10, 2021, citing repeated COVID-19 misinformation violations. YouTube removed his channel in September 2021 as part of a broader anti-vaccine takedown. Twitter suspended his account. PayPal terminated services to related organizations. Mercola announced in 2022 he would delete his site's article archive after 48 hours of publication in response to what he described as sustained deplatforming pressure. The New York Times identified him in July 2021 as the leading spreader of online vaccine misinformation.