YouTube can finally stop the spread of content that spreads fake news and misinformation.
Fake news, i.e. deliberate misinformation spread for various reasons, is a serious problem today, and the last two years have been particularly challenging because of the epidemic situation, with conspiracy theories about the virus and vaccines. Of course, misinformation is not just a matter of the coronavirus epidemic; it is also a popular method in politics, among others, to manipulate readers or to swing elections in their favour.
YouTube has recently introduced a series of measures to prevent the spread of fake news and misinformation, including blocking content that denies the existence of the coronavirus or campaigns against vaccination.
And now the company can go even further, at least as indicated by the blog entry, recently published by Neal Mohan, Product Director. According to this, the company was considering the possibility of using the previously banned "into the grey zone" would make it impossible to share content on the site. These are the videos that do not cross the threshold to be removed from the site, but cannot be recommended to users. The company's plan is to prevent content they consider problematic from being shared or embedded on other sites.
This kind of radical intervention raises a number of questions that need to be clarified, and Mohan added that the company remains hesitant about introducing regulation because it could be too restrictive of viewers' freedom.
Interestingly, a fact-checking group has recently taken YouTube called "a major agent of online disinformation and misinformation".
