YouTube Abandons Election Misinformation Policy That Censored Political Speech

June 05, 2023

“We find that while removing this content does curb some misinformation, it could also have the unintended effect of curtailing political speech.”

by Robby Soave Reason.com

YouTube will no longer remove content that promotes false claims about U.S. elections—a tacit admission that the platform’s aggressive crackdown on misinformation about the 2020 presidential election had negative consequences for political expression.

The company announced the change on Friday.

“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,” wrote site administrators in a blog post.

This is a marked departure from the policy in place at YouTube for the last two years. Content moderators vigorously policed claims that former President Donald Trump had actually won the 2020 election.