YouTube is relaxing its internal moderation rules: now videos that partially violate the platform’s policies can remain online if they are of public importance. About this informs The New York Times.
Under the new guidelines, moderators must keep videos that violate the rules at less than 50% — up from 25% previously — as long as the content covers socially relevant topics. These topics include elections, race, ideologies, gender, abortion, immigration, censorship and other sensitive issues. In cases of doubt, moderators are advised to contact management rather than removing content immediately.
These changes are a continuation of the policy that YouTube introduced before the 2024 US presidential election. It allows videos with political statements to remain, even if they violate internal rules, as long as the content has educational, documentary or artistic value (EDSA).
The company explained that the review of the rules is due to the need to adapt to new content formats, in particular long podcasts, as well as a reaction to feedback from users. A representative of YouTube stressed that the exceptions to the EDSA criterion only apply to a limited number of videos.
The update coincided with a trend toward loosening of moderation on other social networks following Donald Trump’s victory. In particular, Meta stopped cooperation with independent fact-checking organizations. Meanwhile, Google, which owns YouTube, is under pressure from antitrust investigations by the US Department of Justice.
