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Months too late, YouTube will issue strikes to channels that post fake election “news”

This includes Donald Trump’s channel.

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Image: KnowTechie

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With the US Capitol riot still fresh on everyone’s mind, YouTube has announced it will be taking new steps to keep fake election news off of the video-sharing website. Just like with social platforms, this should have happened months ago.

Previously, videos flagged to include fake election news and information were removed, but users were free to upload new videos. Now, if a video is found to include lies, the channel will be issued a strike, which means they will be restricted from posting a new video on YouTube for one week.

“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.” – YouTube

That “any” is important, because it means Donald Trump’s YouTube channel is subject to these rules, as are right-wing news agencies that have pushed unsubstantiated claims of election fraud.

According to The Verge, the original rules towards fake election news, which were implemented in December, were somewhat of a grace period. It was intended to give users time to get used to the new rules. That’s why strikes weren’t issued. That grace period was originally set to go away on January 21, but after this week’s events, that has been pushed up.

Have any thoughts on this? Glad to see YouTube doing this? Let us know down below in the comments or carry the discussion over to our Twitter or Facebook.

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Former KnowTechie editor.

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