YouTube, the world’s largest video platform, is adjusting its content moderation policies to ‘protect free expression’ by adopting a lighter-touch approach to content removal. The changes, reported by Ars Technica and confirmed by YouTube’s representatives, include a higher bar for removing videos from the platform. Previously, content was removed if one-quarter or more of the video violated YouTube’s policies. Now, the threshold has been raised to half of the content, allowing more potentially inflammatory material to remain online. This adjustment is designed to ensure that discussions on contentious topics such as elections, race, gender, sexuality, abortion, immigration, and censorship are preserved in the ‘public interest.’
YouTube’s director of policy, Nicole Bell, emphasized that the update is part of a broader effort to reflect the evolving nature of public discourse. ‘Recognizing that the definition of