Due to the fact that it’s so easy to upload videos onto YouTube, there are many videos out there that contain a lot of misinformation. YouTube does have certain policies in place designed to prevent extremist videos from being uploaded, but certain borderline videos do not necessarily violate those terms which means that they get to stay.YouTube has tried to make these videos less visible by hiding them and not recommending them, but the fact that people can still embed and share these videos externally does not help, so much so that the company has recently published a blog post in which they discuss the possibility of making breaking sharing on these videos by not allow them to be embedded or be linked to from another site.
However, YouTube does acknowledge that such a move might be too drastic. “But we grapple with whether preventing shares may go too far in restricting a viewer’s freedoms. Our systems reduce borderline content in recommendations, but sharing a link is an active choice a person can make, distinct from a more passive action like watching a recommended video.”
They also acknowledge the fact that these videos might also be useful during the course of a research or a news report and as such, the company says, “We need to be careful to balance limiting the spread of potentially harmful misinformation, while allowing space for discussion of and education about sensitive and controversial topics.”
Nothing has been decided yet, but it is clear that misinformation is an issue that these large platforms need to address, but what do you think? Would breaking a sharing link be too extreme for you?
Filed in . Read more about YouTube. Source: blog.youtube