Youtube refused to take down a video that accuses Democrats of voter fraud and claiming that Trump won the election.
The famous social media platform declined to remove the video which contains statements that Democrats are committing voter fraud against Republicans despite acknowledging that they undermine confidence in elections.
The video was posted by the right-leaning media called One American News Network. It was posted last Wednesday morning with the title, “Trump won,” and it showed One American News Network (OAN) anchor, Christina Bobb. In the video, Bobb can be heard saying, “President Trump won four more years in the office last night.”
The video then claims that there was “rampant voter fraud” against Trump ballots while asking viewers to “take action” against the democrat party.
The video now has more than 300,000 views, and Youtube stated it would not take it down. This was despite their policy of removing content “encouraging others to interfere with democratic processes, such as obstructing or interrupting voting procedures.”
Also, just last night, the platform tightened its policies, and this modification includes removing conspiracy theory-driven videos, which could result in real-life violence.
After the video was published, YouTube spokesperson Andrea Faville explained that the company “Community Guidelines” only refers to videos that discourage voting. However, it does not applies to videos that talk about interference after the votes have already been cast.
Faville wrote in an email to CNBC, “Our Community Guidelines prohibit content misleading viewers about voting, for example, content aiming to mislead voters about the time, place, means or eligibility requirements for voting, or false claims that could materially discourage voting,”
She further said that the said video’s content does not rise to that level, and that is why it was not removed. However, according to the platform, they discontinued ads on the video, eliminating revenue streams for its owner.
Spokeswomen of Youtube, Christa Muldoon, said, “We do not allow ads to run on content that undermines confidence in elections with demonstrably false information,”
These confusing statements given by Youtube comes as social media companies had faced pressure to contain misinformation while at the same time avoiding political bias, especially with anything that has to do with the 2020 elections.
The video that was posted by One American News Network also stated that Democrat leaders have been “tossing republican ballots.” In addition to this, the anchor in the video also claimed that they are also “harvesting fake ballots.
Not to mention claims of "tossing Republican ballots, harvesting fake ballots and delaying results to cause confusion." So far, no comment from YouTube. https://t.co/vyOtONgwBV
— Daisuke Wakabayashi (@daiwaka) November 4, 2020
The said video stayed on Youtube, and for two hours after it was posted, it garnered over 150,000 views before the platform placed a label on the video saying, “Results may not be final.”
In addition to this, the anchor in the video also stated that “The Democrat party wants to hold Americans hostage, and they’ll use violence to do it. Democrats are boldly cheating because they think they have you fooled. Let them know they aren’t fooling anyone.”
As the anchor urges viewers to “rise” and “take action,” the video flashed phone numbers of Secretaries of State that the viewers can call.
Then, on Thursday morning, OAN uploaded yet another video with the title, “DAY 2. TRUMP WON. DEMS TRYING TO PULL FAST ONE.” The video started with Bobb stating that Trump won, yet Democrats think that people are stupid and that the party tried to steal battleground states.”
As of today, the video is still up, although no ads are running. On another account, Google said they are planning to remove them under its so-called “demonstrably false policy.”
