A group of more than 80 fact-checking organisations has called YouTube "a major agent of online disinformation 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.
The CNN recently reported a very interesting case reported, that a group of more than 80 fact-checking organisations have sent an open letter to Susan Wojcicki, the YouTube to finally take action against the fake news spreading on the site. Among other things, the letter calls on Google-owned YouTube to stop funding sites where misinformation is taking place and to invest more energy in fighting misinformation in non-English language videos. The group believes that YouTube's failure in the fight against disinformation and misinformation is particularly striking in the South, especially in Latin America, Africa and Asia.
According to the portal, the group's representatives had already contacted the company before writing the letter to discuss the problems raised, but to date no results have been achieved.
