How do you solve a problem like misinformation? YouTube doesn’t have all the answers, but the sprawling online video sharing platform is determined to try. In addition to monitoring the spread of questionable content (like rogue “alternative historians”) through its own recommendation system, YouTube wants to address its role in monitoring videos that go viral after being shared to other platforms — such as videos buried deep in YouTube that make the rounds in Facebook QAnon groups.
In an official YouTube blog post, Chief Product Officer Neal Mohan shared the state of the company’s efforts to limit the spread of misinformation. In today’s rapid news cycle and constant tsunami of online content, YouTube can’t just train algorithms to catch flat earth theorists or 9/11 truthers or other proponents of well-established conspiracies. Misinformation is complex and varied, making it increasingly challenging to trace (let alone curb). Narratives can “look and propagate differently, and at times, even be hyperlocal,” which makes it difficult for YouTube to monitor content in the dozens of languages and over 100 countries in which it operates.
