YouTube will stop removing videos with false claims of fraud in the 2020 presidential election, the Google-owned videos sharing service announced on Friday, June 2.
The move, ahead of the 2024 elections, is a reversal of its policy put in place after the 2020 vote.
YouTube Stops Removing False 2020 US Election Fraud Claims
This illustration picture taken on July 24, 2019 in Paris shows the logo of the US Youtube logo application on the screen of a tablet.
According to the BBC, the video-sharing service disclosed in its latest blog post that it has removed tens of thousands of content from the platform, which dismisses the integrity of the elections in 2020.
But this time around, YouTube has reversed its misinformation policy. Its recent blog post announced that it would no longer delete videos containing false claims of fraud during the 2020 US Presidential election. The decision marks a significant shift in the company's content moderation policy, sparking debates and raising concerns about spreading misinformation.
The video service says that the policy reversal comes after " carefully deliberating" the decision. It further explains in its blog post that "while removing this content does curb some misinformation, this could also have the unintended effect of curtailing political speech without meaningfully reducing the risk of violence or other real-world harm."
Axios reports that videos featuring false claims about glitches, errors, and fraud amid the 2020 US Presidential elections will now be allowed on the platform.
With the new policy in place, how it affects the spread of election misinformation on YouTube remains to be seen.
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YouTube Election Misinformation Policy
HERNDON, VA - MARCH 03: Voters fill in their ballots for the Democratic presidential primary election at a polling place in Armstrong Elementary School on Super Tuesday, March 3, 2020 in Herndon, Virginia. 1,357 Democratic delegates are at stake as voters cast their ballots in 14 states and American Samoa on what is known as Super Tuesday.
As per The Verge, YouTube introduced its misinformation policy, which ditches videos questioning the 2020 US elections, a month after President Joe Biden's victory.
It started when critics slammed the video service for allowing channels to publish videos that explicitly spread misinformation regarding the presidential election results. The Google-led service initially argued that its doors are open to videos about "discussion of election results and the process of counting votes." Some of the content in question declared former President Trump as the winner of the polls.
Later on, or in early December 2020, the giant video service started deleting content that misled the public about the results of the elections. YouTube emphasized that "enough states have certified their election results to determine a President-elect." And as such, videos questioning the results or utterly dismissing the integrity of the US 2020 presidential elections vanished into thin air due to the misinformation policy.
Yet, as the 2024 election is approaching, YouTube has dropped this policy starting June 2.
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