Senate Democrats call on YouTube to pull videos with election lies

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Senate Democrats call on YouTube to pull videos with election lies​

Four senators sent a letter to YouTube expressing ‘deep concern’ over misinformation.​

YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki received a letter on Tuesday from four Democratic senators expressing “deep concern” over the spread of election misinformation on Google’s video platform. In the letter, senators Robert Menendez of New Jersey, Mazie Hirono of Hawaii, Gary Peters of Michigan and Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota ask YouTube to commit to removing content with false or misleading information about the 2020 US presidential election and future political races, including the coming, pivotal Senate runoffs in Georgia.

“We urge you to immediately remove all election outcome misinformation and take aggressive steps to implement prohibitions, as other social media companies have done, regarding outcomes in future elections,” the letter reads.

The senators point to one example of a YouTube video that falsely claims there’s evidence of voter fraud in Michigan, noting that it has more than 5 million views.

Misinformation isn’t a new problem for YouTube, but the US election has thrown this issue into stark relief. The platform rolled out a few policies earlier this year designed to curtail election lies, pledging to remove videos encouraging voting interference and those based on information surfaced in hacks on the democratic process. It also added panels underneath election-related videos offering “authoritative information” on the situation.

Still, YouTube has allowed videos challenging the outcome of the presidential election to remain live, and fringe, right-wing channels that spread much of this misinformation are experiencing a period of growth on the platform.

The Democratic senators have outlined five questions for YouTube and they’re requesting a response by December 8th. The prompts are as follows, as listed in the letter:
  1. Will YouTube commit to removing content containing false or misleading information as to the outcome of the 2020 elections and the upcoming elections in Georgia? If not, why?
  2. What steps has YouTube implemented since announcing its prohibition on voter suppression content?
  3. What steps will YouTube take to ensure that the platform is free from content that suppresses voting, incites violence, or makes false claims concerning the casting of ballots surrounding the January 2021 Georgia run-off elections?
  4. Please provide our offices with any YouTube research concerning the platform’s amplification of groups or organizations using YouTube to spread election misinformation.
  5. How much in ad revenue did YouTube receive from videos showing election result misinformation?
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I’m expecting this to be labeled as an action taken because they have conservative leanings. If OAN is spreading COVID-19 misinformation, then they are not doing any favors for the community.
 
OAN is a clown network.

Watch for it to be bought by President Trump before June 2021.
 
PaulinVA said:
OAN is a clown network.

Watch for it to be bought by President Trump before June 2021.
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I’ve seen how they question Trump at media events. I got the impression from the questions they provided that they were all about elevating Trump.
 
ThinkingSapien said:
I’ve seen how they question Trump at media events. I got the impression from the questions they provided that they were all about elevating Trump.
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Apparently they were kicked out of the White House Correspondents Association rotation of journalists in the WH briefing room because their “reporter” was “invited by the White House” when she wasn’t in the pool and stood in the back maskless and asked softball questions.
 
What are election lies? That means they will be shutting down all conservative voices if it is not pro-life or pros democrat party. Seems very similar to what must have been happening in Germany before
WWII.
 
7_Sorrows said:
What are election lies?
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The letter specifically referenced this article.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...phole-lets-some-false-trump-win-videos-spread

YouTube Election Loophole Lets Some False Trump-Win Videos Spread​

On Monday, cable outlet One America News Network posted two videos to its YouTube account titled “Trump won.” The clips echoed several others telling viewers, falsely, that U.S. President Donald Trump was re-elected and that the vote was marred by fraud.

YouTube added a label noting that the Associated Press called the election for Joe Biden. But the world’s largest online video service didn’t block or remove the content. That approach differs from Twitter Inc., which has hidden conspiratorial election posts behind warnings.
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One YouTube video claiming evidence of voter fraud in Michigan has more than five million views. Another posted by Trump was selectively edited to appear as if Biden is endorsing voter fraud. That has over 1.6 million views. One of the OANN clips was watched 142,000 times in seven hours on Monday, while the other got 92,000 hits in that time.
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Some recent misleading videos came from YouTube accounts that had already promoted unproven claims about mail-in voting months ahead of the election, according to a study by Media Matters for America, which monitors conservative misinformation. President Angelo Carusone said he showed the findings to the company’s policy team in September and got no answer.
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There are some others identified in there.
7_Sorrows said:
That means they will be shutting down all conservative voices if it is not pro-life or pros democrat party.
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I don’t think the political leaning of someone telling an election lie is a factor.
 
How can You Tube put a label on a video saying the AP called the election on Joe Biden? The Associated Press does not name the president.
 
7_Sorrows said:
How can You Tube put a label on a video saying the AP called the election on Joe Biden?
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When ever they label a video, the label always points to a source that they consider a bit more trust worthy.
 
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