YouTube suspended payments to content producers from 14 channels over allegations that Brazil’s Federal Electoral Court had spread fake news about next year’s parliamentary elections.
Most channels offer full support to Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, a far-right former army captain who has sown doubts about the credibility of next year’s elections and is lagging in the polls after mismanaging Brazil’s COVID-19 crisis, which has led to the world’s second-highest coronavirus outbreak linked to a weak economy.
Last week, the Inspector General of the Electoral Justice, Luis Felipe Salomão, ordered YouTube, Twitch.TV, Twitter, Instagram and Facebook to stop making payments to people and pages that spread misinformation about Brazil’s electoral system.
In July, YouTube deleted videos from Bolsonaro’s channel that spread misinformation about the COVID-19 pandemic and became the latest technology platform to delete his controversial pandemic declarations.
In 2020, Twitter and Facebook removed videos of Bolsonaro for violating his terms of service after he made controversial statements that went against the recommendations of global health experts.
For more information, read the original story in Reuters.
