YouTube has taken further action against Rudy Giuliani, one of Donald Trump’s most prominent public apologists, for his continued promotion of false conspiracy theories which state that the 2020 Presidential elections were somehow “stolen.” Mr. Giuliani has been cut off from YouTube’s Partner Program through which the people who upload content to the streaming service make money from their videos. The company has paid out more than $30 billion to such people over the last three years, reports The Verge.
The YouTube Partner Program (YPP) enables revenue sharing from ads being served on uploaded content. According to the Verge, YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki wrote in a letter to YouTube creators that her company “contributed approximately $16 billion to the U.S. GDP in 2019, supporting the equivalent of 345,000 full time jobs.”
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As for the problem of fake news and misleading information getting posted to YouTube she added, “We’re always working to strike the right balance between openness and responsibility as we meet the guidelines set by governments around the world.”
The action taken by YouTube means that Mr. Giuliani will not be getting a cut of the revenue from ads which run alongside videos posted to the site. This suspension will last for thirty days.
In a blog post from last December YouTube clarified its policy on removing false or misleading information and content uploaded to its website. The company stated that it does not allow, “content alleging widespread fraud or errors changed the outcome of a historical U.S. Presidential election. However in some cases, that has meant allowing controversial views on the outcome or process of counting votes of a current election as election officials have worked to finalize counts.”
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The post came after the date on which the various States were required by law to declare their individual slates of electors to America’s Electoral College. This gave President Biden an official and legal declaration that he had indeed won a majority of the electors and, therefore, was elected President of the United States.
So YouTube declared that it would remove any content uploaded as of that date which would mislead people by, “alleging that widespread fraud or errors changed the outcome of the 2020 U.S. Presidential election, in line with our approach towards historical U.S. Presidential elections. For example, we will remove videos claiming that a Presidential candidate won the election due to widespread software glitches or counting errors.”
Rudy Giuliani, however, is still free to continue uploading his videos to YouTube. And he can make money off of these by getting paid to sponsor products as long as he discloses this to viewers.
