YouTube will no longer remove content that erroneously suggests the 2020 US presidential election was marred by “fraud, errors, or glitches,” the platform announced Friday, prompting outrage from anti-misinformation advocates.
The statement by the Google-owned video website marks a significant divergence from its policy announced in December 2020, which aimed to curb false allegations promoted by then-President Donald Trump that his re-election loss to Joe Biden was due to a “stolen” vote.
“The ability to openly debate political ideas, even those that are controversial or based on disproven assumptions, is core to a functioning democratic society – especially in the midst of election season,” YouTube wrote in a blog post.
“We will no longer remove content that promotes false claims of widespread fraud, errors, or glitches in the 2020 and previous US presidential elections.”
The new policy is effective immediately.
YouTube’s disinformation policy, implemented following the 2020 election, resulted in the removal of Mr. Trump’s video on January 6, 2021, in which he made false charges of election fraud while asking protesters to vacate the US Capitol.
YouTube’s new policy comes as digital companies wrestle with how to combat misinformation while protecting free speech.
YouTube appears to recognize that controlling disinformation has drawbacks.
“Two years, tens of thousands of video removals, and one election cycle later,” the video-sharing company said, “we recognized it was time to reevaluate the effects of this policy in today’s changed landscape.”
“In the current environment, we discover that, while removing this content does reduce some misinformation, it may also have the unintended consequence of restricting political speech without meaningfully reducing the risk of violence or other real-world harm.”
However, this response drew harsh criticism from US advocacy groups.
“YouTube is dead wrong in its assertion that removing false election content curtails political speech without meaningfully reducing real-world harms,” said Nora Benavidez of the nonpartisan organization Free Press.
“Its dangerous decision to immediately stop removing content… which continues to sow hate and disinformation that threatens our democracy must be reversed immediately.”
YouTube claimed that its other current policies against election misinformation, such as the prohibition on content that deceives voters or incites individuals to meddle with democratic processes, remain unaltered.
“YouTube was one of the last major social media platforms to keep a policy in place attempting to curb 2020 election misinformation,” said Julie Millican, vice president of the left-wing organization Media Matters.
“Now, it’s decided to take the easy way out by allowing people like Donald Trump and his enablers to continue lying about the 2020 elections without consequence.”
YouTube relaxed restrictions on Mr Trump’s YouTube channel, which has over 2.7 million subscribers, earlier this year.
