YouTube announced on Thursday that it will start removing content from its platform that contains abortion “misinformation.”
“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 Thursday.
Since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, Google, the company which owns YouTube, has faced pressure from some Democratic members of Congress to limit user exposure to web pages about pro-life pregnancy centers in its search results.
In response to their demands, 17 Republican attorney generals sent a letter to Sundar Pichai, the CEO of Google, warning that the company’s curtailment of the circulation of abortion alternative information could spark investigations and potential litigation.
“Suppressing pro-life and pro-mother voices at the urging of government officials would violate the most fundamental tenet of the American marketplace of ideas,” the attorneys general wrote.
Google also suggested earlier this month that it would attempt to protect the identities of individuals seeking abortions after Roe’s reversal by deleting the location history for those visiting abortion clinics.
“Like all of our policies on health/medical topics, we rely on published guidance from health authorities,” YouTube said on Thursday. “We prioritize connecting people to content from authoritative sources on health topics, and we continuously review our policies & products as real world events unfold.”
Youtube said it’s also creating an “information panel” to provide “viewers with context and information from local and global health authorities” underneath abortion-related videos, the Post Millenial reported.
Youtube provided the example of the definition of abortion to show how it would add context and referrals to experts.
“An abortion is a procedure to end a pregnancy,” the definition read. “It uses medicine or surgery to remove the embryo or fetus and placenta from the uterus. The procedure is done by a licensed healthcare professional.” Underneath the video is the disclaimer, “For informational purposes only. Consult your local medical authority for advice,” with a “learn more” link attached.