YouTube has announced a change in its guidelines on medical misinformation. The Google-owned video-sharing&nbsp;platform said in an attempt to tackle&nbsp;medical misinformation on COVID-19, vaccines, reproductive health,&nbsp;harmful substances, and more, it will remove content that&nbsp;contradicts local health authorities or the World Health Organization (WHO).

The platform said its basic framework will aim to remove three types&nbsp;of content misinformation viz. prevention, treatment and denial.&nbsp;

"Moving forward, YouTube will streamline dozens of our existing medical misinformation guidelines to fall under three categories – Prevention, Treatment, and Denial. These policies will apply to specific health conditions, treatments, and substances where content contradicts local health authorities or the World Health Organization (WHO)," YouTube said in a blog post on August 15.&nbsp;

Under denial misinformation, YouTube said, “It will remove content that disputes the existence of specific health conditions. This covers content that denies people have died from COVID-19.”&nbsp;

<a href="https://www.wionews.com/videos/who-warns-covid-has-not-gone-away-609442">Watch |&nbsp;WHO warns Covid 'has not gone away'</a>

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<h2>Cancer treatment misinformation to be removed&nbsp;</h2>

The updated policy emphasises on removing cancer treatment misinformation from the platform. The company said it is its mission to&nbsp;make sure that individuals can easily find&nbsp;high-quality content from credible health sources when they turn to YouTube for cancer-related research.&nbsp;

"Starting today and ramping up in the coming weeks, we will begin removing content that promotes cancer treatments proven to be harmful or ineffective, or content that discourages viewers from seeking professional medical treatment," the blog post read.&nbsp;

<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/youtube-to-block-all-content-spreading-vaccine-misinformation-416998">Also read |&nbsp;YouTube to block all content spreading vaccine misinformation</a>

Citing the example of videos claiming that&nbsp;“garlic cures cancer,” and “taking vitamin C instead of radiation therapy” works, YouTube said such videos would be removed first.&nbsp;

The company added that it will make exceptions for personal&nbsp;testimonies or content that discusses the results of a specific medical study. However, even then, it is not guaranteed that the content will be allowed to remain.

If the content is still up, YouTube will have the sole discretion in 'age-gating' (limiting content for viewers till certain age)&nbsp;it or providing an&nbsp;information panel underneath such&nbsp;videos to provide additional context for viewers.

"We’ll continue to monitor local and global health authority guidance to make sure our policies adapt. We want our approach to be clear and transparent, so that content creators understand where the policy lines are, and viewers know they can trust the health information they find on YouTube," the company added.&nbsp;

(With inputs from agencies)

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YouTube has announced a change in its guidelines on medical misinformation. The Google-owned video-sharing platform said in an attempt to tackle medical misinformation on COVID-19, vaccines, reproductive health, harmful substances, and more, it will remove content that contradicts local health authorities or the World Health Organization (WHO).

YouTube has announced a change in its guidelines on medical misinformation. The Google-owned video-sharing platform said in an attempt to tackle medical misinformation on COVID-19, vaccines, reproductive health, harmful substances, and more, it will remove content that contradicts local health authorities or the World Health Organization (WHO). The platform said its basic framework will aim to remove three types of content misinformation viz. prevention, treatment and denial. "Moving forward, YouTube will streamline dozens of our existing medical misinformation guidelines to fall under three categories – Prevention, Treatment, and Denial. These policies will apply to specific health conditions, treatments, and substances where content contradicts local health authorities or the World Health Organization (WHO)," YouTube said in a blog post on August 15. Under denial misinformation, YouTube said, “It will remove content that disputes the existence of specific health conditions. This covers content that denies people have died from COVID-19.” Watch | WHO warns Covid 'has not gone away' × Cancer treatment misinformation to be removed The updated policy emphasises on removing cancer treatment misinformation from the platform. The company said it is its mission to make sure that individuals can easily find high-quality content from credible health sources when they turn to YouTube for cancer-related research. "Starting today and ramping up in the coming weeks, we will begin removing content that promotes cancer treatments proven to be harmful or ineffective, or content that discourages viewers from seeking professional medical treatment," the blog post read. Also read | YouTube to block all content spreading vaccine misinformation Citing the example of videos claiming that “garlic cures cancer,” and “taking vitamin C instead of radiation therapy” works, YouTube said such videos would be removed first. The company added that it will make exceptions for personal testimonies or content that discusses the results of a specific medical study. However, even then, it is not guaranteed that the content will be allowed to remain. If the content is still up, YouTube will have the sole discretion in 'age-gating' (limiting content for viewers till certain age) it or providing an information panel underneath such videos to provide additional context for viewers. "We’ll continue to monitor local and global health authority guidance to make sure our policies adapt. We want our approach to be clear and transparent, so that content creators understand where the policy lines are, and viewers know they can trust the health information they find on YouTube," the company added. (With inputs from agencies) WATCH WION LIVE HERE:

YouTube updates its medical misinformation policy, says content contradicting WHO will be removed

In the past few months, Google has been actively keeping a check on YouTube content.&nbsp;The video sharing website had removed several extremist videos from the site.

As part of its new policy, Google aims to keep a check on videos featuring people and groups that have been designated as &quot;terrorists&quot;&nbsp;by the US or British government.&nbsp;

The move comes&nbsp;after the company faced increasing pressure from governments.&nbsp;The new policy will restrict terrorist groups based on the government&#39;s list.

However, the policy will not affect news clips or educational videos about terrorism.&nbsp;

Citing that such content in the website radicalises viewers and results in deadly terror attacks, governments and human right groups have been forcing YouTube to crackdown on extremist videos for a long time.&nbsp;

Earlier the company had announced that &ldquo;inflammatory religious or supremacist content&rdquo; that does not violates its policies would be allowed with warning labels.

Such videos were restricted to any advertisement revenue.&nbsp;

Google General counsel Kent Walker had said in a blog post&nbsp;then calling for a &quot;right balance&quot;&nbsp;between &quot;free expression&quot;&nbsp;and &quot;access to information without promoting extremely offensive viewpoints.&quot;

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As part of its new policy, Google aims to keep a check on videos featuring people and groups that have been designated as terrorists by the US or British government

In the past few months, Google has been actively keeping a check on YouTube content. The video sharing website had removed several extremist videos from the site. As part of its new policy, Google aims to keep a check on videos featuring people and groups that have been designated as "terrorists" by the US or British government. The move comes after the company faced increasing pressure from governments. The new policy will restrict terrorist groups based on the government's list. However, the policy will not affect news clips or educational videos about terrorism. Citing that such content in the website radicalises viewers and results in deadly terror attacks, governments and human right groups have been forcing YouTube to crackdown on extremist videos for a long time. Earlier the company had announced that “inflammatory religious or supremacist content” that does not violates its policies would be allowed with warning labels. Such videos were restricted to any advertisement revenue. Google General counsel Kent Walker had said in a blog post then calling for a "right balance" between "free expression" and "access to information without promoting extremely offensive viewpoints."

Google's new policy to widen control on 'extremist' videos on YouTube

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YouTube updates its medical misinformation policy, says content contradicting WHO will be removed

Google's new policy to widen control on 'extremist' videos on YouTube