Freedom of speech and content moderation are like a ticking time bomb for tech giants. Especially when elections are approaching or society begins to react sharply to sensitive topics. And now YouTube has decided to push the envelope a bit. Now the platform will allow more controversial videos if it believes that they have «social value». What does this mean in practice?
Don’t be surprised if more hot topics appear in your feed. Similar to Meta, YouTube has decided to relax its moderation policy. Previously, videos could be blocked on the platform for violating the rules, but now a new logic is used: if «public interest» outweighs the potential harm, the video remains.
According to The New York TimesYouTube provided moderators with new guidelines and additional training. Now, before deleting something controversial, moderators must consider whether it is simply a provocation or an important statement from the point of view of society.
Such topics include discussions of elections, ideologies, social movements, race, gender, sexuality, abortion, immigration, and censorship. What used to be blocked almost instantly is now given a second chance — if it is deemed that the public has a right to see it.
Previously, there was a rule: if at least a quarter of the video violated the platform’s policy, it was removed. Now the limit has been raised to 50%. And if the case is dubious, moderators do not just cut off the shoulder, but turn to the management. It’s an interesting new philosophy: it’s better to ask for advice than to go overboard.
These changes did not fall from the sky. Even before the 2024 US election, YouTube began allowing content that violates the rules if it has educational, documentary, scientific, or artistic value. The new rules expand this practice to a wider range of topics.
The NYT gave an example: a video titled «RFK Jr. hits genetically modified vaccines with a sledgehammer» would have been labeled as medical misinformation and removed, but now remains on the platform — because «public interest outweighs the risks».
YouTube emphasizes that the new rules apply to only a small portion of all content. They are needed to ensure that important materials do not disappear due to individual fragments that violate the policy. For example, a long news podcast will not be removed because of one short moment of violence.
In general, YouTube is following the same path as other tech giants. After Trump’s election victory, many platforms decided that they had gone too far with censorship. The most high-profile example is Meta (Facebook and Instagram), which canceled diversity programs due to the «changing political landscape». Back in January, Mark Zuckerberg admitted that even 1% «of erroneous» censorship affects millions of users and promised to simplify the moderation policy.
Meta is already refusing to use third-party fact-checkers — instead implement collaborative notessimilar to those popular on social network X (formerly Twitter), which also loosened its filters after Elon Musk’s arrival.
So, dubious and hype content that used to be banned will now remain on YouTube because «social value» important. And views with ads will not be superfluous.
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