YouTube vows to ban election videos ‘doctored’ to mislead voters

YouTube said it would remove election-related videos that are “manipulated or doctored” to mislead voters, as part of its efforts to stem online misinformation.

The company said it took the measures as it strives to become a “more reliable source” for news and to promote a “healthy political discourse.”

Leslie Miller, YouTube´s vice president of government affairs and public policy, said that the service´s community standards prohibit “content that technically manipulated or doctored in a way that misleads users…and may pose a serious risk of egregious harm.”

The policy also bans content which aims to mislead people about voting or the census processes.

The move comes amid growing concern about so-called “deepfake” videos altered by using artificial intelligence.

The videos can create credible-looking events, but also “shallow” fakes that use more rudimentary techniques to deceive viewers.

Online platforms have come under pressure to root out misinformation in the wake of a foreign manipulation effort in the 2016 US elections.

It claims that not enough done to curb false claims by candidates themselves.

Concerns over US campaign

The latest YouTube statement comes as the US presidential primary season kicks off which caucuses held in Iowa on Monday and the first primary next week in New Hampshire.

Google last year said it stepped up efforts on election misinformation and would remove false claims in ads, including on YouTube.

But, the new statement appeared to offer specifics on certain kinds of content that will block.

Monday´s statement offered specific examples of content that would removed from YouTube.