YouTube brings video fact-checking to the US amid coronavirus
Last updated on: 29 April,2020 10:50 am
YouTube brings video fact-checking to the US
(Web Desk) - YouTube will begin adding informational panels containing information from its network of fact-checkers to videos in the United States, the company said. The panels, which were introduced last year in Brazil and India, appear on searches for topics where fact-checkers have published relevant articles on the subject. The move comes at a time when platforms have seen a surge in misinformation related to COVID-19 and its origin, possible cures, and other subjects.
“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. “But of course fact checking will apply more broadly now that it’s launching here in the US.”
YouTube says “more than a dozen” US publishers are already participating in its network of fact-checkers, including FactCheck.org, PolitiFact, and The Washington Post Fact Checker. The network is open to any publisher that is a member of the International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN) and signs its code of principles. Google recently announced that it would donate $1 million to the IFCN.