YouTube's approach to global election misinformation criticised

After facing heavy criticism for not doing enough to stem misinformation ahead of the US presidential election, YouTube announced last week it would remove videos that alleged fraud had changed the outcome of the contest. But half a world away in Myanmar, which held a general election just five days after the US polls and faced a tidal wave of online misinformation, including unfounded claims of voter fraud, the new rules do not apply. Social media researchers and civil society groups in Myanmar say the uneven standard is emblematic of YouTube’s comparatively hands-off approach to election misinformation globally at a time when rival Facebook is taking more aggressive country-by-country measures. “It looks like 2020 might be YouTube’s equivalent of Facebook’s 2016, holding on to hope that a universal approach might work, even when it’s clear that it’s not going to be the case,” said Ms Evelyn Douek, a Harvard Law School lecturer who researches online speech. Experts, including Ms Douek, warn that this issue will only escalate for Alphabet’s YouTube in elections worldwide until it creates policies that account for its role for potentially volatile situations. “With other platforms, there’s at least starting to be a recognition that universal rules…
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