Google’s YouTube, which has pledged to do more to remove fake content, has not taken down a video that falsely calls George Floyd a rapist.
The video was posted Monday, as the defense and prosecution made closing arguments in the trial of Derek Chauvin, a white former Minneapolis police officer convicted Tuesday of murder and manslaughter for kneeling on the neck of Floyd, a Black man, for nearly 10 minutes.
By Tuesday at 8 p.m., the video by conservative YouTube host Stew Peters, who has about 72,000 followers, had been viewed nearly 20,000 times and was still gathering views at a rate of about 1,000 per hour. It had an advertisement in front of it, generating money for Peters’ channel and Google. A shortened clip containing the false claim was posted again Tuesday, and had received about 5,000 views.
Google, which has been repeatedly criticized for failing to keep misinformation and racist content off YouTube, did not immediately answer questions about the video. The company along with other social media sites has come under increasing pressure to police its content, particularly after the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. YouTube relies on artificial intelligence and thousands of content moderators to spot videos that violate its rules. Google said in 2018 that it was working with Harvard Kennedy School to launch a project called “Disinfo Lab” intended to combat misinformation during “elections and breaking news moments.”
Peters also did not immediately respond to questions about the false claim.
Chauvin, 45, faces decades in prison and is expected to be sentenced in about eight weeks. Three other former Minneapolis officers charged with aiding and abetting the murder of Floyd, 46, are to go to trial in August.
