YouTube reverses policy on false claims about past US elections

[bigheadfred]

Author: Associated Press
Published: 8:53 AM CDT June 3, 2023
Updated: 8:53 AM CDT June 3, 2023

YouTube said it's trying to protect the ability to "openly debate political ideas, even those that are controversial or based on disproven assumptions."

WASHINGTON — YouTube will stop removing content that falsely claims the 2020 election or other past U.S. presidential elections were marred by “widespread fraud, errors or glitches," the platform announced Friday.

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.”

“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,” the blog post said.

https://www.khou.com/article/news/nation-world/youtube-changes-2020-election-false-claims-policy/507-af9a90c7-f659-41dd-a192-36c548652f66

[bigheadfred]

I wonder if this is a move to get ahead of the game if an R wins instead of a D?

[Fishrrman]

"YouTube will stop removing content that falsely claims the 2020 election or other past U.S. presidential elections were marred by “widespread fraud, errors or glitches," the platform announced Friday."

"Falsely" ??
Is this poisoning the well...?

[Smokin Joe]

I wonder if this is a move to get ahead of the game if an R wins instead of a D?

My bet is that it is to give the appearance of not censoring content, now that the 2020 election is all but moot. It has no bearing on what will be censored in the future.

Is Dr Zelenko's video laying out the Hydroxychloroquine/Azithromycin/Zinc protocol for COVID and how it works going to be reinstated too, so we can take a peek at the alternate universe where COVID would have been treated cheaply with few hospitalizations, only rare deaths, no jabs, and no panic/lockdowns/economic disaster?