80 organisations call out Youtube for disinformation

Over 80 fact-checking organisations from around the world have urged YouTube to do more to tackle disinformation and not allow its online video platform “to be weaponised by unscrupulous actors”.

In an open letter to YouTube chief Susan Wojcicki, the groups ranging from the Kenya-based Africa Check to Politifact offered to help the American online video sharing and social media platform owned by Google, debunk false statements.

“Every day, we see that YouTube is one of the major conduits of online disinformation and misinformation worldwide,” they said, adding that videos containing false information had gone “under the radar ” of the platform’s policies, especially in non-English speaking countries.

“We urge you to take effective action against disinformation and misinformation … and to do so with the world’s independent, non-partisan fact-checking organisations,” they added.

Among their recommendations, the groups called on YouTube to focus on providing context and offering debunks, and also urged it to make sure its recommendation algorithm did not actively promote disinformation to its users.