As misleading claims about voter fraud accusations during the US 2020 Election murmur in every corner of the internet, YouTube takes a bold step by planning to ban those videos in the upcoming days.
YouTube announced last Wednesday (12/9) that it would automatically eliminate content that claims widespread fraud or counting errors affect the election. The video-sharing platform giant insists that it had terminated over 8,000 channels and removed over 77% of videos before reaching 100 views.
"We also work to make sure that the line between what is removed and what is allowed is drawn in the right place. Our policies prohibit misleading viewers about where and how to vote," the announcement writes.
However, news coverage and controversial views are still allowed on the platform, with a direct link to a trusted, non-biased source about the election.
Previously, YouTube "only" flagged potentially misleading election videos by linking them into a trustworthy source of information. Other social media giants have done the same practice, including Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.
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Youtube Censorship: Section 230
This latest move by YouTube is a continuation of Section 230 of the 1996's Communications Decency Act. The law practically does to shield Big Tech and social media platforms, like YouTube, from both parties lawsuit over content its users make.
Last October, CEOs of Facebook (Mark Zuckerberg), Twitter (Jack Dorsey), and Google (Sundar Pichai), YouTube's parent company, were subpoenaed by the Senate Committee to witness the projected law.
Joe Biden and Kamala Harris from Democrats accused YouTube of not doing enough to tackle misleading videos. On the other side of the coin, current POTUS Donald Trump believes that Big Tech is biased against Republicans.
President Trump has a perplexing relationship with Big Tech. He previously signed an executive order against the social media platform last May after Twitter started flagging his tweets as "misleading."
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Youtube Alternative: What is Rumble?
Since the start of the election, many Republicans have switched to YouTube's competitor, Rumble. Unlike YouTube, it's a video-sharing platform that does not imply such a strict rule in content-making.
Rumble previously started as a platform for home videos before having a surge following Joe Biden's projected win during the race to the White House.
TechTimes reports that creators may rack up to 90% of the revenue if it's licensed by one of the platform's partners, such as MTC, MSN, Xbox, or Yahoo.
The platform gives at least four options for creators and how much they want to monetize their content. Creators may provide an exclusive right to Rumble, allowing them to make up to $1,000, or sign a non-exclusive agreement with the platform. Or, they can also opt to share their profits with Rumble or turn it off permanently.
