Meanwhile, YouTube parent Google said it will lift a
moratorium on election-related advertising on Thursday given the outcome in the
US has been decided.
Google, as well as Facebook, temporarily stopped taking
election-related advertisements to prevent being used to spread misinformation
or confusion among US voters.
“To protect users, we regularly pause ads for a discrete
period over unpredictable, 'sensitive' events when ads can be used to exploit
the event or amplify misleading information," Google said in reply to an
AFP inquiry.
"While we no longer consider this post-election period
to be a sensitive event, we will continue to rigorously enforce our ads
policies, which strictly prohibit demonstrably false information that could
significantly undermine trust in elections or the democratic process."
Google-owned YouTube, however, has been hammered with
criticism for continuing to host videos spreading misinformation aimed at
undermining the results of the election.
The position changed on Wednesday with a ban being rolled
out at the leading video-sharing platform.
A "safe harbour deadline" for the election passed
on Tuesday, with enough states certifying election results to make former vice
president Biden the winner, the platform said.
"Given that, we will start removing any piece of
content uploaded today (or anytime after) that misleads people by alleging that
widespread fraud or errors changed the outcome of the 2020 US presidential
election," YouTube said in a blog post.
The move is in keeping with YouTube practice during previous
US elections, according to YouTube.
Videos removed will include those with claims of software
glitches or counting errors affecting the outcome of the vote.
"As always, news coverage and commentary on these
issues can remain on our site if there's sufficient education, documentary,
scientific or artistic context," YouTube said.
Only a small portion of YouTube viewing has been
election-related content, with the bulk of that generated by authoritative news
sources, according to the company.
The US Supreme Court dealt the latest blow Tuesday to Donald
Trump's effort to overturn his election loss when it denied his allies' attempt
to block the certification of votes in key state Pennsylvania.
More than a month since the November 3 election, Trump still
refuses to concede to Democrat Biden, who has a seven million-vote lead, and
continues to make baseless claims of fraud.
Facebook did not respond to a query about plans regarding is
suspension of post-election political advertisements, which remained in effect.
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