(Reuters) – Alphabet Inc’s YouTube said on Friday that the platform would stop removing content that might have spread false claims related to U.S. presidential elections in 2020 and before.
The new set of updates is part of YouTube’s elections misinformation policy that will go into effect immediately.
“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,” YouTube said in a blog post.
The platform also said the rest of its policies against hate speech, harassment and incitement to violence would continue to apply to all user content, including elections.
The proliferation of disinformation has raised questions about how social media platforms enforce their policies against misleading content about elections.
Other social media platforms like Twitter and Meta Platforms Inc’s Facebook have also seen a spike in disinformation related to elections.
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(Reporting by Yamini Kalia; Editing by Anil D’Silva)