Video streaming service YouTube will begin removing videos that allege there was widespread fraud in the election that tilted the results in President-elect Joe Biden‘s favor.
In a blog post on Wednesday, YouTube said, “Our main goal going into the election season was to make sure we’re connecting people with authoritative information, while also limiting the reach of misinformation and removing harmful content.”
“We also disallow content alleging widespread fraud or errors changed the outcome of a historical U.S. Presidential election. However, in some cases, that has meant allowing controversial views on the outcome or process of counting votes of a current election as election officials have worked to finalize counts,” the post continued.
“Yesterday was the safe harbor deadline for the U.S. Presidential election, and enough states have certified their election results to determine a President-elect. Given that, we will start removing any piece of content uploaded today (or anytime after) that misleads people by alleging that widespread fraud or errors changed the outcome of the 2020 U.S. Presidential election, in line with our approach towards historical U.S. Presidential elections.”
The post went on to explain that YouTube would remove videos that claim a candidate won the election because of “widespread software glitches or counting errors.”
The company said the new policy would go into effect on Wednesday.
“As always, news coverage and commentary on these issues can remain on our site if there’s sufficient education, documentary, scientific or artistic context,” it added.
Biden has secured the required number of electoral votes needed to win the White House, but President Donald Trump has refused to concede the election and alleged that there was widespread fraud that cost him his reelection bid.
The move comes at a time when Congressional Democrats are calling for technology companies to crack down even more on disinformation. At the same time, Republicans have alleged that social media and technology companies are censoring conservative voices.
Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) took to Twitter to blast the new policy, “[Google] owned [YouTube] officially announcing free speech no longer allowed.”
.@Google owned @YouTube officially announcing free speech no longer allowed. If you have concerns about election integrity, you must sit down and shut up. Repeal Section 230 and break these companies up https://t.co/EfBfCZHzv2
— Josh Hawley (@HawleyMO) December 9, 2020
“If you have concerns about election integrity, you must sit down and shut up. Repeal Section 230 and break these companies up,” he added.
