YouTube Starts Removing Election Fraud Content, Experts Say It’s Unprecedented

Youtube announced on Dec. 9 that the company will immediately start removing content alleging “widespread fraud or errors” took place in this year’s presidential election. Experts say the move is unprecedented in its scope and warned such censorship could trickle into every other major platform.

In a statement, the video-sharing platform said they will begin “enforcing this policy today, and will ramp up in the weeks to come.” The company said news coverage and commentary on these issues “can remain on our site if there’s sufficient education, documentary, scientific, or artistic context.”

Youtube did not provide additional context on this but it offered an example: “We will remove videos claiming that a Presidential candidate won the election due to widespread software glitches or counting errors.” The reason Youtube gave for this policy was that the Dec. 8 “safe harbor deadline for the U.S. Presidential election” had passed, and that “enough states have certified their election results to determine a President-elect.”