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YouTube removes videos peddling COVID-19 misinformation

By Bong Godinez
Published August 26, 2021 3:00 PM PHT

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The online video sharing platform started removing videos with questionable content last year.

YouTube has removed 1 million videos containing COVID-19 misinformation since February of last year.

The online video sharing platform made the announcement, stressing the company's effort to address the problem of videos containing misleading content.

“Misinformation has moved from the marginal to the mainstream,” commented Neal Mahon, YouTube's chief product officer.

“No longer contained to the sealed-off worlds of Holocaust deniers or 9-11 truthers, it now stretches into every facet of society, sometimes tearing through communities with blistering speed.”

Mahon mentioned, however, that content with questionable information found on YouTube are paltry in terms of numbers and with majority having less than 10 views.

“Bad content represents only a tiny percentage of the billions of videos on YouTube (about .16-.18% of total views turn out to be content that violates our policies),” wrote Mahon.

Misinformation is a growing concern on social media as more people from around the world rely on it for news and entertainment.

Facebook and YouTube are particularly prone to such content given the nature and accessibility of both social media platforms.

In May, Facebook announced that it is testing a new feature to alert users that they're about to share an article without reading it.

“Starting today, we're testing a way to promote more informed sharing of news articles. If you go to share a news article link you haven't opened, we'll show a prompt encouraging you to open it and read it, before sharing it with others,” announced Facebook on Twitter.

It is just one of the many features being rolled out by Facebook in an effort to stop or at least reduce the spread of false information among its users

Meanwhile, check out the top 10 YouTube “breakout creators” from the Philippines for 2020 in this gallery.