Recently, YouTube has taken steps to curb any kind of misinformation, myths, and propaganda regarding the novel coronavirus pandemic.
The company has announced that it will start displaying links from established fact-checkers to the viewers in the US.
These fact-checking information panels were launched in India and Brazil in 2019. Whenever a user will search for specific topics like “COVID” or “Ibuprofen,” these panels will display third-party, fact-checked, authentic articles.
Many US publishers like The Dispatch, FactCheck.org, The Washington Post Fact Checker, and PolitiFact are included in the fact-checking panel for YouTube.
In 2018 also, YouTube outsourced help for contextual information from relevant and authentic sites like Encyclopedia Britannica and Wikipedia for topics that have a lot of misinforming propaganda around them. During the coronavirus pandemic, YouTube is taking help from health organizations like WHO, CDC, and other authentic health sources for all the searches related to this deadly virus and the disease it causes.
Not only YouTube, but other tech apps like Facebook, Amazon, and many others have resorted to taking help from these health organizations so that only the true and updated information about COVID-19 is imparted to the users. And it was the need of the hour because mythical, falsified information about the virus was creating a lot of chaos among already panicked people.
Aside from this, YouTube has announced that it will provide $1 million to the IFCN to augment and reinforce fact-checking processes around the globe. This payment will be made through the Google News Initiative.
Another step that YouTube is taking amid the pandemic is by putting strict restrictions on low quality content that creators are producing these days. According to YouTube’s Chief Product Officer Neal Mohan, it is prohibited by YouTube now to use any words or any content that might encourage people to avoid social distancing and lockdown, or any type of content that might make them rebellious against the mandatory precautions for COVID-19.
Also, any misinforming content that promotes some harmful remedies for the disease is also strictly monitored.
Any commentary that might encourage people to completely disregard the stay at home orders will be banned because YouTube considers this as a false narrative against their medical misinformation policy.
Apart from YouTube, Twitter has also established this restriction policy which states that all unverified coronavirus claims that can cause distress to people will be banned.
Another interesting tool that YouTube will take help from is “Intelligence Desk”. With the help of this tool, YouTube can target and remove all the content that supports mythical conspiracy theories and more misinformation concerning the coronavirus pandemic.
Read next: Google and YouTube's Parent Company Alphabet's Financial Report For Q1 2020 Boasts $41.2 Billion in Revenue
The company has announced that it will start displaying links from established fact-checkers to the viewers in the US.
These fact-checking information panels were launched in India and Brazil in 2019. Whenever a user will search for specific topics like “COVID” or “Ibuprofen,” these panels will display third-party, fact-checked, authentic articles.
Many US publishers like The Dispatch, FactCheck.org, The Washington Post Fact Checker, and PolitiFact are included in the fact-checking panel for YouTube.
In 2018 also, YouTube outsourced help for contextual information from relevant and authentic sites like Encyclopedia Britannica and Wikipedia for topics that have a lot of misinforming propaganda around them. During the coronavirus pandemic, YouTube is taking help from health organizations like WHO, CDC, and other authentic health sources for all the searches related to this deadly virus and the disease it causes.
Not only YouTube, but other tech apps like Facebook, Amazon, and many others have resorted to taking help from these health organizations so that only the true and updated information about COVID-19 is imparted to the users. And it was the need of the hour because mythical, falsified information about the virus was creating a lot of chaos among already panicked people.
Aside from this, YouTube has announced that it will provide $1 million to the IFCN to augment and reinforce fact-checking processes around the globe. This payment will be made through the Google News Initiative.
Another step that YouTube is taking amid the pandemic is by putting strict restrictions on low quality content that creators are producing these days. According to YouTube’s Chief Product Officer Neal Mohan, it is prohibited by YouTube now to use any words or any content that might encourage people to avoid social distancing and lockdown, or any type of content that might make them rebellious against the mandatory precautions for COVID-19.
Also, any misinforming content that promotes some harmful remedies for the disease is also strictly monitored.
Any commentary that might encourage people to completely disregard the stay at home orders will be banned because YouTube considers this as a false narrative against their medical misinformation policy.
Apart from YouTube, Twitter has also established this restriction policy which states that all unverified coronavirus claims that can cause distress to people will be banned.
Another interesting tool that YouTube will take help from is “Intelligence Desk”. With the help of this tool, YouTube can target and remove all the content that supports mythical conspiracy theories and more misinformation concerning the coronavirus pandemic.
Read next: Google and YouTube's Parent Company Alphabet's Financial Report For Q1 2020 Boasts $41.2 Billion in Revenue
