YouTube to ban ‘manipulated’ content linked to elections

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

The Google-owned video service said it was taking the measures as part of an effort to be 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 in a blog post that the service’s community standards prohibit “content that has been 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 which can create credible-looking events, but also “shallow” fakes that use more rudimentary techniques to deceive viewers.