YouTube expands fact-check feature to US video searches during COVID-19 pandemic

YouTube, the video service of Alphabet Inc’s Google, said on Tuesday it would start showing text and links from third-party fact-checkers to US viewers. This is part of it efforts to curb misinformation on the site during the COVID-19 pandemic. The information panels, launched in Brazil and India last year, will highlight third-party, fact-checked articles above search results for specific topics such as “covid and ibuprofen.” [caption id=“attachment_8310721” align=“alignnone” width=“1280”]  Youtube Fact check feature[/caption] Social media sites including Facebook and are under pressure to combat misinformation relating to the pandemic caused by the new coronavirus, from false cures to conspiracy theories. YouTube said in a blog post that more than a dozen US publishers are participating in its fact-checking network, including The Dispatch, FactCheck.org, PolitiFact and The Washington Post Fact Checker. In 2018, YouTube introduced information panels that helped surface contextual information, from links to sources like Encyclopedia Britannica and Wikipedia for topics prone to longstanding misinformation. Now, YouTube shows links to the WHO, CDC or local health authorities for videos and searches related to COVID-19. “Our fact check information panels provide fresh context in these situations by highlighting relevant, third-party fact-checked articles above search results for relevant queries, so that our viewers can make their own informed decision about claims made in the news,” YouTube said in the blog. Additionally, YouTube said it will provide $1 million through the Google News Initiative to the IFCN to bolster fact-checking and verification efforts across the world. With inputs from Reuters