2024 marks a presidential election year in the United States and now YouTube has announced plans to crack down on AI-generated election misinformation and how they will stop foreign interference in elections. YouTube also announced it will be working to promote what it considers to be high-quality election content.
“Challenges posed by generative AI have been an ongoing area of focus for YouTube, but we know AI introduces new risks that bad actors may try to exploit during an election. Our misinformation policies prohibit technically manipulated content that misleads users and could pose a serious risk of egregious harm. And for election ads, we require advertisers to disclose when their ads include digitally altered or generated materials.” YouTube said in a statement on its website.
To help address these issues, YouTube says they will take action against creators who consistently do not disclose altered or synthetic content.
YouTube also says they plan to crack down on foreign adversaries. “We’ve long worked closely with Google’s Threat Analysis Group (TAG) to combat government-backed attacks. Together, we identify coordinated influence operations on YouTube and terminate their channels and accounts. This includes government-backed hacking designed to interfere with elections, including the upcoming 2024 elections. Through TAG, we also work with other technology companies to share intelligence and best practices, and share threat information with law enforcement. TAG discloses coordinated influence operation campaigns terminated on Google platforms, including YouTube, in their monthly Bulletin.”
YouTube went on to say “YouTube has long been a platform for political discussion and debate. We believe voters should hear all sides of a candidate’s platform so they can make informed decisions, even when those views may be controversial or questionable. It’s why, when it comes to political speech on YouTube, we take extra consideration for content with educational or documentary value, such as news coverage. But this isn’t a free pass to spread harmful misinformation or promote hateful rhetoric.”
To help with this YouTube says it will move quickly to remove content that incites violence, encourages hatred, promotes harmful conspiracy theories, or threatens election workers.
The 2024 election has already seen a massive amount of AI-generated content. Now, YouTube seems to be dedicated to stopping it.