YouTube Changes Tunes, Allows False Claims About Past U.S. Polls

YouTube will stop removing content that falsely claims the 2020 election or other past US presidential elections were marred by "widespread fraud, errors or glitches," the platform announced, the Associated Press (AP) reported.

Photo Insert: YouTube said in a blog post that the updated policy was an attempt to protect the ability to "openly debate political ideas, even those that are controversial or based on disproven assumptions."

The change is a reversal for the Google-owned video service, which said a month after the 2020 election that it would start removing new posts that falsely claimed widespread voter fraud or errors changed the outcome.

YouTube said in a blog post that the updated policy was an attempt to protect the ability to "openly debate political ideas, even those that are controversial or based on disproven assumptions."

It added: "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."

Experts immediately tagged YouTube’s position as “hogwash.”

The updated policy, which is now in effect, won't stop YouTube from taking down content that tries to deceive voters in the 2024 election, or other future races in the US and abroad, which means false claims will be axed.

Lying is not protected political speech. This could prove difficult to enforce, said John Wihbey, an associate professor at Northeastern University who studies social media and misinformation.

"It doesn't take a genius if you're on the disinformation 'we were wronged in 2020' side to say, 'wait a minute, let's just claim that voting just generally is not worth it. And 2020 is our example," he said.

"I don't know how you disentangle rhetoric that both refer to past wrongs and to forward possibilities. The content moderation team, which is going to try to do this, is going to tie themselves in knots trying to figure out exactly where that line is."

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