YouTube Increasingly Fighting Hoax Video About COVID-19

JAKARTA - YouTube continues to strive to eradicate hoax videos and disinformation related to COVID-19 which is often uploaded to its video platform. This time, YouTube added a fact-checking feature to its service.

This fact-checking feature was introduced earlier for the Brazilian and Indian YouTube pages. This service will provide information related to the topic of the video, before uploading it to YouTube. Especially at this time many have uploaded videos related to COVID-19

"When a user searches on YouTube about a particular claim, we want to provide an opportunity for that fact-checking (feature) to appear right away, when our users are looking for information, especially around changing topics such as COVID-19," said YouTube's Chief Product Officer. , Neal Mohan as quoted in The Verge, Thursday 30 April.

Mohan explained, this fact-checking feature will begin operating extensively in the United States. YouTube collaborates with media and fact-finding institutions such as The Dispatch, FactCheck.org, PolitiFact, and The Washington Post Fact Checker in confirming the correctness of data and information from videos uploaded to its platform.

YouTube will also take advantage of the Google and Bing search engines in removing uploaded video information. Moreover, the current COVID-19 pandemic situation, which makes YouTube pages and social media the only places to exchange information.

"Our fact-checking information panel provides a new context in this situation by highlighting relevant third-party articles and being checked on top of search results for relevant questions, so that our viewers can make informed decisions about claims made in the news," YouTube said in a statement. the official statement.

The company, which is based in San Bruno, California, USA, has also added the latest news categories from trusted primary sources, as well as information links such as the Encyclopedia Britannica and Wikipedia pages. The goal is so that YouTube users do not get caught up in hoax news and misleading conspiracy theories.

Not to forget that YouTube includes links to the World Health Organization (WHO), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and local health authorities in search of information about COVID-19. In the future, this feature will be operated in many countries.