YouTube relaxes moderation rules to allow more controversial content

Why it matters: Don’t be surprised to see more controversial videos on YouTube. Much like Meta, the platform has relaxed its moderation policies, allowing content that violates the usual rules if it is deemed to be in the “public interest.”

The Google-owned site has provided moderators with new guidelines and training on how to deal with inflammatory content that breaks YouTube’s code of conduct, writes The New York Times.

Reviewers have been told not to remove anything considered to be in the public interest. This includes discussions of elections, ideologies, movements, race, gender, sexuality, abortion, immigration, and censorship.

Moderators were previously told to remove videos if one-quarter or more of the content violated YouTube policies. Now, that limit has been increased to half. Reviewers have also been told to consult with their managers if the videos are borderline, rather than removing them outright.

YouTube said the change expanded on one it made before the 2024 US election that allowed policy-violating content from political candidates to remain under its educational, documentary, scientific, and artistic content exemption.

The NYT included examples of videos that are now allowed following the policy change. One of these is titled ‘RFK Jr. Delivers SLEDGEHAMMER Blows to Gene-Altering JABS.’ It would have previously been disallowed as it fell under medical misinformation, but it is now allowed as the public interest “outweighs the harm risk.”

YouTube claims that the change will only apply to a small fraction of videos that it hosts, and that its introduction ensures that important content remains available. The company gave an example of the exceptions preventing “an hours-long news podcast from being removed for showing one short clip of violence.”

Many tech giants have loosened their content moderation policies since Trump won the election. The highest-profile example has been Facebook and Instagram parent Meta. CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in January that accidentally censoring just one percent of posts affects millions of people, and that there have been too many mistakes and “too much censorship.”

Zuckerberg added that Meta would “simplify” its content policies, removing restrictions on topics such as immigration and gender that “are just out of touch with mainstream discourse.”

The CEO also announced that Meta would replace third-party fact checkers with community notes, which have gained popularity on X. The former Twitter site slackened its moderation policies after Elon Musk took over.

In related news this week, YouTube has just shut down a loophole that allowed apps and browsers such as Firefox to circumvent its anti-ad-blocking protections.

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