YouTube is now cracking down on COVID-19 misinformation by deleting over 1 million "dangerous" videos. With COVID-19 pausing time starting 2020 with lockdowns spread across the world, YouTube is now making moves to help stop misinformation.
YouTube Combats COVID-19 Misinformation
YouTube has just removed over 1 million videos with "dangerous coronavirus information," including those that had false cures and hoax claims that started in February 2021. This was according to a blog post by the Google-owned video platform's very own Chief Product Officer known as Neal Mohan.
According to the blog post, YouTube removes about 10 million videos every single quarter. Most of the videos that reportedly violate YouTube's very own community guidelines are removed despite not even reaching 10 views. The executive also adds that the "bad content" accounts for a very small percentage of videos on the platform.
YouTube Policies Against Misinformation
About only 0.16% to 0.18% of the total views turn out to be content that violated YouTube's policies. In order to combat misinformation, YouTube reportedly relies on expert consensus from different reliable health organizations like the CDC as well as WHO, according to Android Central.
The blog post notes that misinformation has actually moved from the whole marginal to the mainstream. It is no longer contained to the sealed-off worlds but is now stretched into other facets of society. These facets of society sometimes tear through communities with a certain blistering speed.
Content Misinformation
Quite seemingly, no topic is immune. Very often, YouTube reports that it has seen misinformation spinning up in the midst of actual breaking news. YouTube notes that following tragic events like violent attacks, theories emerge by the second on everything, starting from a shooter's identity to their motive.
In these particular moments, what happens in the world would also happen on YouTube. It was noted that the company reflects with the world around them but knows that they can also help shape everything. This is why YouTube has made stopping the spread of misinformation one of their deepest commitments.
YouTube Early Investments
YouTube also noted that some will most likely disagree with their approach and ask them to take down or even leave up more content. The company, however, is still buoyed by the progress of these particular early investments. Twitter is trying to combat misinformation by adding warning labels.
YouTube notes that its teams continue to work all around the clock in order to improve their system and they will still keep building on the foundational work all around the clock to be able to improve their systems. YouTube also noted that they will keep building on the foundational work, which would help them combat misinformation.
YouTube notes that more detail is coming in soon, but they still hope that these perspectives shed light directly on how they are thinking about the much broader misinformation challenge at YouTube. Facebook has also been cracking down on COVID-19 misinformation for a while and other platforms are starting to do the same.
Related Article: Facebook Blocks COVID-19 Misinformation Researchers from NYU, Cuts off Access to Ad Library
This article is owned by Tech Times
Written by Urian B.
