YouTube, the Google-owned video platform, said it would escalate efforts to crack down on “election misinformation” amid an unprecedented campaign of censorship against President Trump from other Silicon Valley companies.
All YouTube channels that Google deems to violate its policy, including President Trump’s will receive a strike that temporarily prevents them from uploading new videos.
In a series of tweets, the official YouTube Twitter account said it was escalating its policy due to the “disturbing events that transpired yesterday.”
Via Twitter:
Due to the disturbing events that transpired yesterday, and given that the election results have now been certified, starting today *any* channels posting new videos with false claims in violation of our policies will now receive a strike.
Over the last month, we’ve removed thousands of videos which spread misinformation claiming widespread voter fraud changed the result of the 2020 election, including several videos President Trump posted to his channel.
Like other major policy updates, in our Help Center, we noted that there would be a short grace period after the Dec update & new content that broke our rules would be removed without penalty. The grace period was scheduled to end on Inauguration Day.
Channels that receive a strike are temporarily suspended from posting or live streaming. Channels that receive three strikes in the same 90-day period will be permanently removed from YouTube. We apply our policies and penalties consistently, regardless of who uploads it.
The Google-owned platform also removed a short clip of President Trump calling on supporters to peacefully disperse, the same video that was taken down by Twitter and Facebook.
“We removed a video posted this afternoon to Donald Trump’s channel that violated our policies regarding content that alleges widespread fraud or errors changed the outcome of the 2020 U.S.,” Farshad Shadloo, YouTube spokesperson, told Business Insider.
“We do allow copies of this video if uploaded with additional context and sufficient educational, documentary, scientific, or artistic (EDSA) value.”
Allum Bokhari is the senior technology correspondent at Breitbart News. His new book, #DELETED: Big Tech’s Battle to Erase the Trump Movement and Steal The Election, which contains exclusive interviews with sources inside Google, Facebook, and other tech companies, is currently available for purchase.