With the growth and expansion of the internet in the world and the increasing access to social networks, fake news has been gaining more and more prominence and spreading around the world, since its dissemination is very common on Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp. . However, a letter signed by more than 80 fact-checking groups claims that YouTube excels when it comes to spreading rumors globally on the web. Several institutions including the UK's Full Fact and the Washington Post's Fact Checker claim that the streaming platform is the internet's main channel of misinformation. For example, the letter claims that content from groups like Doctors for the Truth spread false information about the coronavirus without major punishment on the service.

“YouTube is allowing its platform to be weaponized by unscrupulous actors to manipulate and exploit others, and to organize and raise funds. Current measures are proving insufficient,” reads an excerpt from the letter to YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki.

In 2020, YouTube began banning false information related to Covid-19 vaccinations, and a year later said it would remove false content about any vaccine. The platform’s guidelines state that “certain types of content that are misleading or with a serious risk of serious harm” will be banned – including, according to the streaming service, Brazil is among the countries with the most videos removed due to misinformation.

“Over the years, we have invested heavily in policies and products in every country in which we operate to connect people to authoritative content, reduce the spread of borderline disinformation and remove infringing videos,” said platform spokeswoman Elena Hernandez. "We've seen important progress keeping consumption of incorrect recommended information significantly below 1% of all views on YouTube and only about 0.21% of all views are of infringing content that we later remove."

The YouTube representative also stressed that the company is looking for ways to improve the platform. "We are always looking for meaningful ways to improve and will continue to strengthen our work with the fact-checking community," the spokeswoman said in response to the letter sent by the fact-checking groups.

Source: The Guardian