YouTube Approves Disinformation Ads On Indian Election

YouTube approved nearly 50 advertisements that were full of false information, criticised India's elections, or prevented the country's voters from casting their vote. This was done in disregard for the platform's explicit policies regarding election misinformation, according to a report.

Titled "Votes will not be counted", Indian Election & Disinformation 48 advertisements in Telugu, Hindi, and English were sent out. These advertisements contained false information about the impending election, such as claims that women could vote by text, that the voting age had increased to 21, and that religious organisations were engaging in election-related fraud.

According to the report, YouTube approved each ad, but the senders withdrew them before they could be published for security concerns.

“By failing to implement its own policies around disinformation, YouTube raises serious questions about its role in ensuring that the upcoming Indian elections are free and fair,” said Namrata Maheshwari, Senior Policy Counsel at Access Now. “Heading into the crucial election year of 2024, tech platforms made tall promises about safeguarding electoral integrity, but the proof is in the pudding — YouTube greenlit all 48 ads violating its policies, submitted as part of our investigation.” 

Globally, more people than ever before will cast ballots in 2024. In this regard, social media sites like YouTube play a vital role in the battle against false information. During a similar Global Witness examination conducted in advance of the US midterm elections in 2022, YouTube demonstrated its ability to identify and reject banned content when it so chooses. However, in a subsequent probe conducted in Brazil in 2022 and presently in India, the platform has disregarded its own norms and permitted election-related advertisements in violation of them.

In response to the report, a google spokesperson stated, "Not one of these ads ever ran on our systems and this report does not show a lack of protections against election misinformation in India. Our policies explicitly prohibit ads making demonstrably false claims that could undermine participation or trust in an election, which we enforce in several Indian languages. 

"Our enforcement process has multiple layers to ensure ads comply with our policies, and just because an ad passes an initial technical check does not mean it won’t be blocked or removed by our enforcement systems if it violates our policies. But the advertiser here deleted the ads in question before any of our routine enforcement reviews could take place,” he added.