YouTube seems to be getting a little more lenient.
The company announced it will stop removing videos produced by people claiming that the 2020 election was stolen.
The about-face certainly comes as a surprise. In a report published by NBC News YouTube said, “We recognized it was time to reevaluate the effects of this policy in today’s changed landscape. 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.”
YouTube began removing videos in the wake of the January 6 capitol storming.
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Instead, the website is likely to slap on their warning labels (i.e., when you see someone saying a vaccine is not effective, there will be a header saying ‘info from the CDC’, etc…), getting the viewer to click on a more trusted, authoritative source.
While YouTube might be doing this in the name of open media and democracy, it could be a response to the changing tide.
Elon Musk has been aiming to be a political power player for the 2024 primary elections. He hosted Florida Governor Ron DeSantis as he announced his campaign on Musk’s audio platform, “Twitter Spaces.” He also hosted Robert F. Kennedy on Monday, and has been flirting with the idea of hosting his own Democratic debate for President Joe Biden’s challengers.
YouTube has been known to give an audience to independent and anti-establishment figures. It’s one of the reasons it grew while traditional television media slowly declined.
But their ad revenue fell 2.6% in a single year, marking their sharpest decline to date.
YouTube needs that audience, and they don’t want to lose them.
It also shows that Musk and his censorship conversations have been getting some attention. It’s increasingly been a hot topic in the public political sphere.
Will this reverse YouTube’s sagging numbers? Hard to say, but with a choppy Twitter DeSantis rollout, YouTube might just be standing as the more functional, reliable and still free option.
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