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Friday, November 13, 2026Nov 13

YouTube: No “birther” conspiracy videos for 2020 election

FILE - In this Wednesday, April 25, 2018, file photo, the YouTube app and YouTube Kids app are displayed on a smartphone in New York. (AP Photo/Jenny Kane, File)
FILE - In this Wednesday, April 25, 2018, file photo, the YouTube app and YouTube Kids app are displayed on a smartphone in New York. (AP Photo/Jenny Kane, File) FILE - In this Wednesday, April 25, 2018, file photo, the YouTube app and YouTube Kids app are displayed on a smartphone in New York. (AP Photo/Jenny Kane, File)

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. (AP) — YouTube is making clear there will be no “birtherism” on its platform during this year’s U.S. presidential election.

Also banned: Election-related “deepfake” videos and anything that aims to mislead viewers about voting procedures and how to participate in the 2020 census.

The Google-owned video service clarified its rules ahead of the Iowa caucuses Monday. The company is mostly reiterating content guidelines that is has been putting in place since the last presidential election in 2016.

Google said that it will remove any videos that advance false claims about whether political candidates and elected officials are eligible to serve in office.

The company’s announcement comes about nine years after celebrity businessman Donald Trump began to get notice for claiming that Barack Obama, the nation’s first African American president, was not born in the United States.