As the 2024 presidential election comes into focus, tech giants have struggled to balance curtailing misinformation with protecting users’ political speech. A recent YouTube policy change, which affects how the platform handles election-related misinformation, is an example of this tension.
In June 2023, the video-sharing platform officially changed its election misinformation policy and announced that videos promoting election falsehoods will no longer be removed. The move has concerned digital misinformation experts, who warn that misinformation that originates on YouTube could infiltrate the broader information ecosystem, especially in 2024.
PolitiFact examined the state of election misinformation policies at YouTube, Twitter, TikTok and Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram.
We found that although most policies haven’t changed since the 2022 midterm elections, enforcement has been inconsistent, and platforms including Twitter and Meta have reduced content moderation staff.
Experts also suggest that these personnel cuts, coupled with YouTube’s policy change, signal a broader shift away from misinformation regulation ahead of the 2024 election.
Researchers at New York University’s Center for Social Media and Politics found that stricter policies implemented by YouTube in the weeks following the 2020 election had positive effects across social media platforms.
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