“As with all of our policies we will continue to monitor what we’re seeing on-platform,” Chambliss told WIRED on Tuesday.
Ads declaring a false outcome, however, are banned. Meta bans new election ads for the week before election day, and said it would extend that ban up until a few days after polls close, Axios reported on Monday.
Political ads are completely banned on TikTok, but that hasn’t stopped influencers from posting election-related sponsored content this cycle. Unlike 2020, the Trump campaign now has its own TikTok account where it could post content claiming the former president has won before the final ballots are processed. The platform’s content policy bars election-related content “that may result in voter interference, disrupt the peaceful transfer of power, or lead to off-platform violence,” but the company did not respond to requests for comment asking if this would apply to any videos Trump could make prematurely declaring victory. TikTok does forbid users from claiming Trump won in 2020.
YouTube bars users from misleading voters about the date and location of the election and posting content that questions a candidate’s eligibility or encourages interference “democratic processes.
“Our policies apply to everyone and are enforced with consistency, regardless of the political viewpoints expressed, the language the content is in, or how the content is generated,” YouTube says in a policy explainer.
Earlier this week, Twitch introduced a new label for creators to tag their streams if they primarily discuss topics like “elections, civic integrity, and war or military conflict.” In response to January 6, Twitch banned Trump from the platform. The account was reinstated in July shortly after Trump officially became the Republicans’ presidential nominee.
“We believe there is value in hearing from Presidential nominees directly, when possible. Trump is now the official Republican nominee for US president,” a Twitch spokesperson said at the time.
YouTube and Twitch did not respond to a request for comment on whether they would remove posts from Trump prematurely claiming victory.
Vittoria Elliott contributed reporting.
You can follow all of WIRED’s 2024 presidential election coverage here.
