YouTube is a platform where a lot of content is uploaded every single minute and there is no stopping of it because user generated content is a thing which is spreading over internet business and industries very rapidly and people use this content as their major tool of promotion and client acquisition. There is also a dark side of it because people use it to brainwash others and to spread out the hate speech over the public through mass communication or the most desired platforms and platforms like YouTube. YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki received a letter on Tuesday from four democratic senators expressing deep concern over the spread of election misinformation on Google video platform. In the letter there are many complaints alleged by senators Robert Menendez of New Jersey, Mazie Hirono of Hawaii, Garry peters of Michigan and Amy klobuchar of Minnesota ask YouTube to commit to removing content with false or misleading information about the 2020 US presidential election and future political races, including the coming, pivotal senate runoffs in Georgia.
They ask YouTube to immediately remove all election outcome misinformation and take aggressive steps to implement prohibitions, as other social media companies have done, regarding outcomes in future election. The information of election can change thinking of lot of minds and hence can influence a large group of public in wrong direction so it should be prohibited. YouTube is a platform with users all around the world and many people are watching it for different purposes some are watching it for entertainment factor, some are watching it to have a great time in weekend with their family, some are watching it to improve their business strategy to improve their business, some are watching it to know the reality of elections and to know the reality of work done by the ruling party. For example president is presenting his speech in regarding with a particular factor or development of any sector than it is being watched by both the supporters and haters because they want to analyze it from facts and figures. If the information provided is wrong then it would make a wrong perception and negative image of the same.
The problem of misinformation isn’t new for YouTube, but the US election has thrown this issue into stark relief. The problem rolled out of few policies earlier this year designed to curtail election lies. Pledging to remove videos encouraging voting interference and those based on information surfaced in hacks on the democratic process. It also added panels underneath election related videos offering authoritative information on one situation. For a fair result, both side of the situation must be there to calculate an appropriate result of the scenarios. The risk of cybersecurity is also happening and increasing with time so YouTube must have a proper firewall to protect any security threat and the confidential data is disclosed under high authorization.
Still YouTube has allowed videos challenging the outcome of the presidential election to remain live, and fringe, right wing channels that spread much of its misinformation are experiencing a period of growth on the platform. The democrats asked few questions from YouTube and they are requesting a response by 8th December.
