We are one week away from Election Day in the United States. This election season, you’ve come to YouTube for timely news and information, whether it’s to hear directly from the candidates running for office who use YouTube or to watch live coverage of key election moments from major news providers.
Over the last few years, we’ve significantly increased our investments in the systems and processes that enable us to effectively remove violative videos, raise up authoritative content and reduce the spread of borderline content. Throughout this year, we’ve shared updates on how these efforts allow us to make YouTube a more reliable source for election-related news and information—for example, our information panels for federal and presidential candidates or voting by mail—as well as offering an open platform for healthy political discourse. Here is a look at how we’re applying this framework to Election Day.
Our Community Guidelines do not allow misleading claims about voting or content that encourages interference in the democratic process. In addition, we have established policies prohibiting hate speech, harassment, deceptive practices and incitement to violence. For example: under our violent or graphic content policy, we remove content inciting others to commit violent acts against individuals or a group of people at polling places; and under our voter suppression policy, we remove content falsely claiming that mail-in ballots have been manipulated to change the results of an election. We consistently enforce our policies regardless of political viewpoints or who expresses those viewpoints. Content providing sufficient educational, documentary, scientific, or artistic context is allowed on YouTube.
The removal of violative content is just one of the ways we protect the YouTube community. Fast-moving events, like elections, may produce unverified claims, which can then lead to uncertainty. Providing viewers with accurate information is critical in moments like this, which is why we work to raise up authoritative election-related information and reduce the spread of harmful election-related misinformation in the following ways: