YouTube will stop removing content that promotes false claims about the 2020 US presidential election, marking a change for the world’s largest video site as the next US presidential contest begins to heat up.
Alphabet Inc.’s Google division said: The new policy will go into effect on Friday.
“In the current environment, we’ve found that while removing such content curbs some misinformation, it may also have the unintended effect of diminishing political speech without measurably reducing the risk of violence or other factual harm,” the company said in a blog post. mail. “With that in mind, and with the 2024 campaigns under way, we will stop removing content that makes widespread false claims of fraud, errors, or glitches in the 2020 and other previous US presidential elections.”
YouTube and other social media companies have come under pressure since the 2016 US presidential election to ensure that their platforms are not manipulated to spread political misinformation. YouTube said in December that it had removed more than 10,000 videos related to the US midterm elections for violating its policies on election integrity and other guidelines. Some of these videos have been removed promoting the falsehood that the 2020 US presidential election has been stolen.
YouTube said on Friday it will continue to block content that misleads people about how to vote, provides false information that could discourage people from voting, and encourage election interference. Axios reported earlier the company’s policy shift.
