‘YouTube Alternative’ Vimeo Bans ‘Fake News’ and ‘Conspiracy Theories’

Vimeo, a video hosting platform that markets itself as an alternative to YouTube, has updated its terms of service to ban “fake news” and “conspiracy theories” that creates “a serious risk of material harm to a person, group, or the general public.”

The video sharing platform’s previous terms were also fairly restrictive, banning any content that “contains hateful or discriminatory speech,” supports “hate groups,” contains false information about “vaccination safety,” “false or misleading information about voting,” or “contains conspiracy-related content where the underlying conspiracy theory makes claims that… suggest that a real-world tragedy did not occur.”

Vimeo’s new terms of service have expanded the scope of prohibited content to include “false or misleading information (including fake news, deepfakes, propaganda, or unproven or debunked conspiracy theories) that creates a serious risk of material harm to a person, group, or the general public.”