YouTube To Give Users “Fact-Checks” When They Search On Sensitive Topics

Fake news is still a huge problem and many internet giants are still trying to figure out how they can tackle that issue. YouTube has chimed in with its own solution and soon the video-sharing platform will mark videos that are suspected of inaccuracies.

According to Buzzfeed, the site will show “information panels — boxes of text that provide debunks from YouTube’s verified fact-checking partners — when people search for topics that are prone to misinformation.” The information panels will not appear in videos but only in the search results but that’s still a positive step that will probably discourage viewers from watching that content and will certainly make them wary of sharing these videos, unless of course the person sharing has a clear agenda they want to push and the truth is not necessarily a key part of that agenda.

Though this measure won’t stop information that’s inaccurate from being uploaded on to the platform, there will be disclaimers such as “Hoax alert”, when people view the videos. The feature is already available in India (only a few users have access) and YouTube has said it will be available globally at some point, although they didn’t disclose when this point will be.

A YouTube spokesperson speaking on the matter said:

…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.

YouTube is not the only platform fighting fake news, with Facebook, Twitter and WhatsApp also trying out various tactics to slow down the spread of misinformation. WhatsApp has reduced the number of times you can forward a message whilst Facebook has improved their algorithms for flagging inaccurate information, significantly.