YouTube to ban ‘doctored’ content linked to elections

WASHINGTON: YouTube said on Monday it would remove electionrelated videos that are “manipulated or doctored” to mislead voters, as part of its efforts to stem online misinformation.

The Google-owned video service said it was taking the measures as part of an effort to be a “more reliable source” for news and to promote a “healthy political discourse.”

Leslie Miller, YouTube’s vicepresident of government affairs and public policy, said in a blog post that the service’s community standards prohibit “content that has been technically manipulated or doctored in a way that misleads users ... and may pose a serious risk of egregious harm.”

The policy also bans content which aims to mislead people about voting or the census processes. The move comes amid growing concern about so-called “deepfake” videos altered by using artificial intelligence which can create credible-looking events, but also “shallow” fakes that use more rudimentary techniques to deceive viewers.

Online platforms have come under pressure to root out misinformation in the wake of a foreign manipulation effort in the 2016 US elections and claims that not enough is being done to curb false claims. Google last year said it was stepping up efforts on election misinformation and would remove false claims in ads, including on YouTube.

The announcement underscores differing policies by social networks on disinformation. Twitter has said it would ban all political ads for candidates, while Facebook has maintained a hands-off policy for political speech and ads, with some exceptions for content that misleads users about voting times and places.