To fight back against the abundance of misinformation and conspiracy videos on the platform, YouTube is beginning to implement fact-checking infoboxes alongside questionable content.
When users look up topics “prone to misinformation,” they’ll see boxes at the top of the search that
To give you an idea what the box will look like, see a screenshot provided to Business Insider below that reads “Hoax alert! Paracetamol Tablets Do Not Contain ‘Machupo’ Virus.”
The box first states the claim that is being argued in the videos. It then gives the claim a truth rating. In the case of Paracetamol tablets containing ‘Machupo’ virus, YouTube gave it a false rating.
YouTube is testing the feature with Indian conspiracy videos
The feature is not yet available worldwide. Right now, YouTube’s only released it to a select number of users in India. Why India you may ask? There’s many worries there’s an epidemic of misinformation being spread in the country. For instance, in February 2018, YouTube’s trending pages in India was plagued with fake stories claiming famous Bollywood actress Sridevi had died.
YouTube says it’s working with half a dozen fact-checking services in India to fill the information boxes with accurate information. Once YouTube sees how well the feature does in India, they have plans to eventually release it globally. However, we haven’t been told when that will be.
