Social Media Giants Ease Misinformation Policies

Big Tech is rolling back measures that were designed to curtail misinformation about the 2020 elections and COVID-19.

Axios noted that, even as the 2024 election cycle approaches, social media platforms argue that the risk of harm no longer outweighs the advancement in political debate.

Tech giants’ move to walk back efforts to curb misinformation has sparked concerns from some lawmakers and consumer groups.

YouTube said Friday that it’s changing its policy to allow content that denies the validity of the 2020 presidential election and other elections and spreading claims about voter fraud.

“The ability to openly debate political ideas, even those that are controversial or based on disproven assumptions, is core to a functioning democratic society — especially in the midst of election season,” YouTube wrote in a blog post.

YouTube began removing such content in December 2020 after claims by former President Donald Trump and his allies that voter fraud dominated the 2020 presidential race.

Meta’s Instagram has lifted its suspension against the account of Robert F. Kennedy Jr., nephew of the late president John F. Kennedy, The Washington Post reported.

Kennedy, who is making a long-shot bid to challenge President Joe Biden for the Democrat nomination, was removed from Instagram in 2021 for reportedly sharing debunked claims about COVID-19 in violation of its policies on the pandemic, Reuters noted.

“As he is now an active candidate for president of the United States, we have restored access to Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.’s Instagram account,” Meta spokesperson Andy Stone said in a statement, according to The Washington Post.

Axios noted that since Elon Musk bought Twitter and promised “free speech” policies, Twitter has become an attractive platform for politicians who claimed to be disenfranchised by Big Tech.

Axios noted that Kathleen Hall Jamieson, director of the Annenberg Public Policy Center and founder of Factcheck.org, said the best solution is to “flood the zone with the best available information, make sure that when the misinformation gets up there, you’ve got corrective context with good information up next to it.”