YouTube will no longer remove videos falsely claiming the 2020 U.S. presidential election was stolen, reversing a policy put in place in the contentious weeks following the 2020 vote.
The Google-owned video platform said in a blog post that it has taken down “tens of thousands” of videos questioning the integrity of past U.S. presidential elections since it created the policy in December 2020.
But two and a half years later, the company said it “will stop removing content that advances false claims that widespread fraud, errors, or glitches occurred in the 2020 and other past U.S. Presidential elections” because things have changed. It said the decision was “carefully deliberated.”
“In the current environment, we find that while removing this content does curb some misinformation, it could also have the unintended effect of curtailing political speech without meaningfully reducing the risk of violence or other real-world harm,” YouTube said.
The platform will continue to ban videos misleading voters about when, where, and how to vote, claims that discourage voting, and “content that encourages others to interfere with democratic processes.”
It also prohibits some false claims about election fraud or errors in other countries, including the 2021 German federal election and the 2014, 2018, and 2022 Brazilian presidential elections.
YouTube’s reversal of its prohibition on false claims about U.S. elections comes as the 2024 campaign is already underway, and former president...
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