YouTube to block misleading content alleging voter fraud in US election
YouTube says that it is removing any content alleging widespread voter fraud that could have influenced the outcome of the 2020 US presidential election. In the wake of case after case being thrown out of State courts, and even a ruling from the US Supreme Court, there is yet to be any evidence produced to indicate voter fraud or tampering of ballots.
YouTube had came under fire for allowing posted videos making false claims about the country’s election results. The One America News Network, a verified YouTube channel, published a video declaring that President Trump “won” the election, a claim also made by the incumbent. YouTube responded saying… “Like other companies, we’re allowing these videos because discussion of election results & the process of counting votes is allowed on YouTube.”
But yesterday YouTube said that its decision to begin removing misleading election videos follows the safe harbour deadline, where Sates declare their official results, and that “enough states have certified their election results to determine a President-elect.”
“YouTube will begin removing any new content that misleads viewers about the outcome of the 2020 election.”
The announcement follows a series of lawsuits placed by the President’s campaign team challenging the results of the presidential election. 2 days ago the Supreme Court rejected a request to block certification of the Pennsylvania election results, blocking any possibility for the President or Republicans to invalidate Joe Biden’s victory in a US court.
YouTube says it has found over 200,000 election-related videos that were shown over 4.5 billion times. The company said that it would update all these posts, linking them instead to the electoral college results provided by the Office of the Federal Register which shows that Joe Biden is the official president-elect.
Other social media companies have also come under criticism for allowing some news channels to post false claims and inaccurate information about the election.
