YouTube updates its medical misinformation policy, says content contradicting WHO will be removed
YouTube
YouTube has announced a change in its guidelines on medical misinformation. The Google-owned video-sharingplatform said in an attempt to tacklemedical misinformation on COVID-19, vaccines, reproductive health,harmful substances, and more, it will remove content thatcontradicts local health authorities or the World Health Organization (WHO).
The platform said its basic framework will aim to remove three typesof 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.”
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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 tomake sure that individuals can easily findhigh-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.
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 personaltestimonies 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 aninformation panel underneath suchvideos 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)
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