YouTube will stop removing content that falsely claims the 2020 US presidential election was affected by “fraud, errors or hiccups,” the site said Friday. The decision was quickly met with criticism from advocates fighting misinformation and disinformation.
“The fatal decision to immediately halt the removal of content that continues to spread hate and misinformation and threatens our democracy must be reversed immediately,” said Nora Benavidez of the Free Press.
The announcement by the Google-owned video website deviated from the original policy introduced in December 2020. Efforts were then made to suppress the untrue claims. These were mainly helped by the then US President Donald Trump. He claimed, without providing any evidence, that he lost to Joe Biden because the election was “stolen.” Several US court rulings have contradicted Trump’s election loss due to fraud, errors or obstruction.
“The ability to openly discuss political ideas, even if they are controversial or based on unproven assumptions, is part of a functioning democratic society, especially during election periods,” the YouTube blog post said. In addition, other rules against election misinformation are in place, including banning content that misleads voters or incites people to disrupt democratic processes, YouTube said.
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