media". The disquiet which followed "makes a strong case for more extensive due diligence inquiries". COVID-19 pandemic In March 2020, during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic in the UK, Young wrote in The Critic that he "suspect[ed] the Government has overreacted to the coronavirus crisis", expressing worry about the "economic cost". In reference to the modelling of a team at Imperial College London led by Neil Ferguson, he wrote: "spending £350 billion to prolong the lives of a few hundred thousand mostly elderly people is an irresponsible use of taxpayer's money." Peter Jukes wrote that Young's views could be "outright deadly" in a pandemic; Darren McGarvey compared Young's views to austerity. Young, who initiated the Lockdown Sceptics newsletter (now retitled The Daily Sceptic) called for stopping the lockdown before 14 April 2020. Saying that he had probably contracted the virus, he wrote that "if the Government does end the lockdown, and it turns out that by the time I require critical care the NHS cannot accommodate me, I won't regret writing this". He argued his own death would be "acceptable collateral damage". Young's view contrasted with the scientific recommendations for lockdown policy in the UK. In June 2020, he wrote that "the virus has all but disappeared". In January 2021, he appeared on Newsnight, and when he was challenged about his comments about the virus, he said: "hands up, I got that wrong" and made arguments against lockdowns. On 14 January 2021, the British press regulator IPSO ruled that an article Young had written for The Daily Telegraph in July 2020 was "significantly misleading" and that the newspaper had failed to take care not to publish inaccurate information. In the article, Young claimed that common cold coronaviruses gave people immunity against SARS-CoV-2, and that in July 2020 London had almost achieved herd immunity. Neither claim was supported by scientists at the time. IPSO ordered the newspaper to publish a correction. The Telegraph removed the article from its website and Young deleted many of his tweets about the pandemic. The Daily Sceptic has promoted misinformation about COVID-19 vaccines. In September 2022, PayPal shut down the accounts of Young, the Free Speech Union and The Daily Sceptic website. The accounts were closed because of breaches of PayPal's acceptable use policy, thought to be because of alleged misinformation about COVID-19 vaccines. The accounts were restored later that month after extensive criticism