YouTube announces channels posting false election claims will receive strike, suspension
FILE - In this photo illustration a YouTube logo seen displayed on a smartphone. (Mateusz Slodkowski/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)
LOS ANGELES - Just one day after President Donald Trump’s social media accounts were blocked during a violent pro-Trump riot inside the U.S. Capitol, YouTube announced that all channels posting false election claims will now receive a strike and temporary account suspension.
"Over the last month, we’ve removed thousands of videos which spread misinformation claiming widespread voter fraud changed the result of the 2020 election, including several videos that President Trump posted yesterday to his channel," Alex Joseph, a YouTube spokesperson, told FOX TV Stations.
"Due to the disturbing events that transpired yesterday, and given that the election results have been certified, any channel posting new videos with these false claims in violation of our policies will now receive a strike, a penalty which temporarily restricts uploading or live-streaming," Joseph said.
"Channels that receive three strikes in the same 90-day period will be permanently removed from YouTube," Joseph said.
This news comes just one day after YouTube removed a video posted Wednesday afternoon to Trump’s social media channel that YouTube said "violated our polices regarding content that alleges widespread fraud or errors changed the outcome of the 2020 U.S. Election."
Trump posted the video on multiple social media platforms asking a violent mob of his supporters to leave the Capitol building after they'd stormed it earlier on Wednesday. Trump spoke to his supporters in the video, saying, "I know your pain. I know your hurt. But you have to go home now." He went on to call the violent mob of his supporters "very special."
YouTube’s policy update came one day after Twitter locked President Donald Trump out of his account for "12 hours" on Wednesday over the video and several other tweets, demanding that he delete tweets that violated the company’s policies.
RELATED: Twitter locks Trump's account for 12 hours, Facebook blocks him from posting for 24 hours
Twitter swiftly moved on Wednesday to block the ability to reply, like, or retweet the president's video due to "a risk of violence," threatening to lock Trump out of his account permanently if he persisted in violating Twitter rules.
Facebook went one step further, removing Trump's video from its platforms and suspending his accounts. On Thursday, Facebook announced that Trump’s Facebook and Instagram accounts will remain locked indefinitely.
"The shocking events of the last 24 hours clearly demonstrate that President Donald Trump intends to use his remaining time in office to undermine the peaceful and lawful transition of power to his elected successor, Joe Biden," Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in a statement Thursday morning.
Zuckerberg said Facebook has, for years, allowed Trump to use its platform consistent with its rules, but has removed content or labeled posts that violate its policy.
RELATED: Facebook, Instagram indefinitely blocking President Trump, Zuckerberg says
In December, following the 2020 election, YouTube updated its policy and began removing content that alleges widespread fraud or errors changed the outcome of the 2020 U.S. Election.
According to YouTube, the company has a longstanding, straightforward three-strikes system, with channels being suspended for increasing durations at each strike until they are eventually terminated.
"If we find your content doesn’t follow our policies for a second time, you'll get a strike. This means you won't be able to do the following for one week: Upload videos, live streams, or stories, Create custom thumbnails or Community posts, Created, edit, or add collaborators to playlists, Add or remove playlists from the watch page using the 'Save' button, Show a trailer during your Premieres, Send viewers from a live stream to a Premiere or send viewers from a Premiere to a live stream," YouTube's policy reads.
YouTube says full privileges will be restored automatically after the 1-week period, but the strike will remain on an offending channel for 90 days.
Three strikes in the same 90-day period result in a channel being permanently removed from YouTube.