YouTube Adding Fact-Checking Capabilities to Videos

With the spread of COVID-19 comes the spread of misinformation. Google product YouTube is attempting to combat this, by adding fact-checking panels to videos the algorithm, and humans, deem related to the Coronavirus. First launched in Brazil and India last year, YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki hopes the new tool will allow users to be more informed when it comes to the virus.

“When users are searching on YouTube around a specific claim, we want to give an opportunity for those fact checks to show up right then and there, when our users are looking for information — especially around fast-moving. quickly changing topics like COVID-19,” said Neal Mohan, YouTube’s chief product officer.

YouTube is taking advantage of a few US based fact checking services, including Factcheck.org, Politifact, and the Washington Post Fact Checker. According to Google, the service is open to any International Fact-Checking Network members that also sign its “Code of Principals.”

Google and YouTube have been relying more on AI and machine learning to flag videos that break its terms of service during the outbreak. With offices closed and a reduced remote workforce, YouTube is also leaning on AI for deciding when to display fact-checked information panels.

In the future, Google and YouTube plan to roll out additional features that cover a wider range of topics, Mohan stated in a blog post. How this will stand the test of time, politics, and public opinion, is just a waiting game.

Linked Article