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Last year YouTube announced it would no longer remove content that disputed the outcome of the 2020 US presidential election, arguing it could curtail political speech “without meaningfully reducing the risk of violence or other real-world harm”.
Over the previous two years it had removed tens of thousands of videos, but without this guardrail election misinformation has thrived. A Media Matters study finds that right-wing creators are exploiting YouTube’s lax policy to sow doubt about next week’s election.
More than 280 videos were identified that contained misinformation about the 2020, 2022, and/or 2024 elections, including at least 93 that were monetised – meaning both the creator and YouTube profited.
One such channel belongs to Benny Johnson, who has 2.5 million subscribers and was allegedly paid by the Russian state media outlet RT to produce content.
Johnson alone has released 38 videos since May that are both monetised and push election misinformation, racking up millions of views.
