YouTube makes moves to fact-check conspiracy videos

YouTube is working to decrease the popularity of fake news and conspiracy theories on its platform by rolling out a new feature to fact-check videos on sensitive topics.

But this new disclaimer will only show up in search results, not on the actual videos and YouTube will not be fact-checking individual videos.

“As part of our ongoing efforts to build a better news experience on YouTube, we are expanding our information panels to bring fact checks from eligible publishers to YouTube,” a YouTube spokesperson told CBS News Thursday. When users search for topics prone to misinformation, an “information panel” will pop-up to debunk or fact-check the search.

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The information shown in the panels is provided by YouTube’s verified fact-checking partners, which have gone through an eligibility process and rely on the schema.org ClaimReview markup process.

Panels may include terms such as “Hoax Alert!” and “FAKE” to alert users of the potentially incorrect content that may appear in search results.

But videos containing misinformation may still appear in the search results, and YouTube will not be fact-checking individual videos.

The disclaimers will appear above videos and below the search topic, serving as a warning.

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