Like any major online platform, YouTube also has a misinformation problem. A recent study found that videos on YouTube have contributed to the rise in the number of people who believe that the Earth is flat. The company has now decided to launch a new information panel which will be used to display fact checks when users search for controversial and sensitive topics.
“As part of our ongoing efforts to build a better news experience on YouTube, we are expanding our information panels to bring fact checks from eligible publishers to YouTube,” said a spokesperson for the company.
These boxes of text will display fact checks from YouTube’s verified fact-checking partners on search results for topics that are “prone to misinformation,” according to a spokesperson for YouTube.
The panels will be displayed on search result pages instead of individual videos. This won’t prevent videos containing misinformation from coming up in search results, YouTube will simply be generating a disclaimer on a query which involves a sensitive topic.
YouTube has launched this feature only in India right now. It’s one of the company’s largest markets with almost 250 million users. These disclaimers will be shown in both English and the local Hindi language. YouTube has confirmed that this feature will gradually be expanded to more countries across the globe but didn’t provide a roadmap.
Filed in . Read more about YouTube. Source: buzzfeednews