According to reports, YouTube announced on Thursday that it prohibits conspiracy theories that “justify real-world violence” targeting individuals or groups. YouTube stated in its official blog that these policies for hate and harassment content take effect immediately, and the company will increase enforcement in the coming weeks.
Earlier, other major social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter also announced attacks on QAnon and other conspiracy theories . For example, Facebook said earlier this month that it would delete all Facebook pages, groups, and Instagram accounts that “represent” QAnon.
QAnon is a kind of unfounded conspiracy theory that claims that US President Trump is secretly cracking down on a conspiracy of child sex offenders, which involves well-known Democrats, Hollywood elites and their “deeply hidden national allies.” The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has listed him as a potential instigator of domestic terrorism in the United States.
This kind of conspiracy theory also borrows some elements from the fictitious “Pizza Gate”. “Pizzagate” claimed that a pedophile gang had fled a restaurant in Washington, DC.
A YouTube spokesperson said that the recent ban will affect content that targets individuals or protected groups, such as religious and ethnic groups. YouTube stated that since the hate speech policy was updated in June 2019, tens of thousands of QAnon-related videos have been deleted and hundreds of related channels have been blocked.
YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki (Susan Wojcicki) said in an interview this week that many QAnon videos are “discriminatory content” and do not clearly violate YouTube’s specific policies. However, since January 2019, YouTube has been taking measures to reduce the recommendation of “dislike” content and videos that may mislead users in harmful ways.
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