YouTube to crack down on abortion misinformation, announces to remove videos with false claims

Alphabet Inc’s (NASDAQ: GOOGL) YouTube on Thursday said the streaming platform is cracking down on videos containing abortion misinformation and will take down videos deemed unsafe.

“Starting today and ramping up over the next few weeks, we will remove content that provides instructions for unsafe abortion methods or promotes false claims about abortion safety under our medical misinformation policies,” the company said in a tweet.

YouTube parent Google has come under fire after several lawmakers asked the video platform to clamp down on search results that allegedly steer people looking for abortion services to crisis pregnancy centers opposing abortion.

“Like all of our policies on health/medical topics, we rely on published guidance from health authorities,” YouTube said. “We prioritize connecting people to content from authoritative sources on health topics, and we continuously review our policies & products as real-world events unfold.”