YouTube has banned content alleging widespread voter fraud changed the U.S. election outcome.
The video-sharing platform started to ban such content Wednesday on the heels of the safe harbor deadline the prior day, which requires states under federal law to have chosen their electors for the presidential election six days before the Electoral College meets to officially cast the ballots.
“Enough states have certified their election results to determine a president-elect,” YouTube said in a blog post Wednesday. “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.”
YouTube cited videos claiming a presidential candidate won the election because of widespread software glitches or counting errors as an example of the types of content it would remove.
The social media platform added that it would ramp up activity to remove such videos in weeks to come.
“As always, news coverage and commentary on these issues can remain as long at there’s sufficient education, documentary, scientific or artistic context,” YouTube said.
A group of Democratic senators raised concern in a letter to YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki last month about the “proliferation of misinformation” on the social media platform “during and immediately following the 2020 elections” and ahead of the Georgia run-off elections.
The group urged the platform to “immediately remove all election outcome misinformation.”
The YouTube ban against such content comes after some Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee alleged big technology companies like Facebook and Twitter have anti-conservative bias in October. Later that same month, the Senate committee on commerce, held a hearing on updating Section 230, which shields social media platforms from liability as mere conduits for users’ content.
Republican Senator Josh Hawley, R-Mo., criticized YouTube’s latest move in a tweet.
“@Google owned @YouTube officially announcing free speech no longer allowed,” Hawley tweeted. “If you have concerns about election integrity, you must sit down and shut up. Repeal Section 230 and break these companies up.”
President Donald Trump and some other Republicans have made unsubstantiated claims of “substantial irregularities and improprieties associated with mail-in balloting,” in Pennsylvania. On Tuesday, the U.S. Supreme Court, which has a six-member conservative majority, including three justices Trump appointed, rejected Pennsylvania Republicans’ effort to overturn President-elect Joe Biden’s victory.
Still, on Wednesday Trump held onto a long-shot effort to contest the election through a Texas lawsuit.
Legal analysts said that the lawsuit filed directly with the U.S. Supreme Court to contest the election in four key battleground states based on changes in election procedures is all but certain to fail.
YouTube said in its blog post Wednesday that it also has policies against “spam, scams, or other manipulated media, coordinated influence operations, and any content that seeks to incite violence.”
Prior to Wednesday, YouTube said it had already eliminated “over 8,000 channels,” since September “and thousands of harmful and misleading elections-related videos” based on its existing policies.
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The communist / Nazi propagandists and what do we get, massive censorship. It is only a matter of time before we Conservatives are going to be arrested. The sheep in society, better wake up.
“Those who would give up essential liberty, to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.” Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790)
Enter the Liberal corrupted media and their pandering party of propagandists, who get the immediate gratification of censorship to secure their power today but just succeed in poisoning the American well of truth, not to mention national unity which will be their undoing in the end, and cause them unending resistance by patriotic men of the ability for self-governance. When offered national unity only on THEIR terms, even the summer soldier and sunshine patriot will boldly resist them.
WHEN we’ve already heard liberals, actively CALLING FOR trump supporters to be “made to feel pain”, or sent to re-education camps, i certainly feel, its only a matter of time before all of us who voted for trump, get put into ‘re-education camps’ and the like.
OR AT LEAST they try to!
I’m tell ya’… it’s time to send them back to hell from where they came… arm up…mask down.. power dry.
Digital Book Burners who’s only free speech they feel should be protected is their own.
“Digital Book Burners who’s only free speech they feel should be protected is their own.”
Excellent, you said in a few words more than my comment with many more. Makes me want to delete mine
Nicely put. AS i said the other day, when we were talking about Iran, it seems THOSE TERRORIST LOVING CRETINS< have more free speech than AMERICAN patriots do.
One thing have always hated, Bosses who give orders that fail, who then try to make others responsible for the outcome of their decisions. Blame shifting
Is YouTube claiming all the rest on their site is safe?
If they think they need to protect us in some, why not all, and if not all, why some?
A teacher in a business law class said, lawyers do not shovel snow off their sidewalks
Which sounds inconsiderate of the safety of others
But the teacher said, if you shovel it you are guilty of making it unsafe by how you shoveled it, whereas snow is an act of G-d and people need to be mindful of their own safety.
YouTube is playing both sides of this argument, making decisions for others while being held harmless for their decision.
You can always win with a double standard. It is always heads you win, tails they lose
There are a number of Hebrew words in KJV OT translated as fool, one in particular, which occurs 70 times, Kes-eel, means fat.
The great divide in this country is between those who have to move their bodies to get work done and those who think they think.
Those who know what it is like to be physically tired see what those who think they think will make the world a better place are really bring hell on Earth.
If the electricity was turned off for a week, once a year, it would make fools wise, if we don’t, it will be off longer than a week
An education Venezuela could have benefited from
In multiple states, the Executive and/or the Judicial branches performed actions which are designated in the constitutions of those states to their respective Legislative branches, yet the SCOTUS doesn’t see this as a problem? This isn’t even a “slippery slope,” it’s a cliff.
A cliff, they willingly have drove the nation over..
we have lost this battle and looks like we will lose the war my friends the media controls the narrative and the masses lick it up.
i just can not see a winning scenario for us.
The only one i can, is if trump activates the Insurrection act.
BUT even then, the rot is SO firmly entrenched, i am not sure even that would work.
Aren’t there any talented hackers out there who would like to screw up / make fools of the big tech websites just for fun?
Maybe the 75 million Trump supporters could blow up these websites with facts & opinions about the in-our-face election fraud & other criminal activities of the Marxist Dem Party.
Would keep the big tech free speech oppressors very busy trying to shut up 75 million people 24 hours a day.
May have to resort to making millions of flyers to hand out / put on cars everywhere to organize & setup methods of communication & coordinate operations to fight back against the criminal unconstitutional tyranny we are being subjected to.
Overwhelming force of numbers on the web & in the streets seems to be only thing that can defeat the very few ultra rich & powerful political & Corp tyrants that are under the false impression they can wield total absolute power & control of this nation.