YouTube starts to fact-check search results

YouTube is dealing another blow to conspiracy theorists and disinformation peddlers.

The video platform has started rolling out text prompts, known as “information panels,” that provide fact checks when users search certain terms or phrases. The feature is currently being rolled out to a limited number of users in India, one country in particular where the spread of fake news has fatal consequences.

Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

YouTube provided the screenshot above as an example. In this case, a user searches for information regarding a well-known internet hoax about the painkiller paracetamol carrying a hemorrhagic disease called the “Machupo” virus. At the top of the search results page, the user receives a prompt with information debunking the claim.

“As part of our ongoing efforts to build a better news experience on YouTube, we are expanding our information panels to bring fact checks from eligible publishers to YouTube,” said a YouTube spokesperson in a statement to Mashable. “We are launching this feature in India and plan to roll this out in more countries as time goes on.”

The information panel rollout in India includes fact checks in both English and Hindi.

It’s important to note that YouTube is not blocking the video results or actual videos about hoaxes. It's simply serving additional fact-checked information from publishing partners to its users.

The information panels displayed by YouTube are also just fact-checking search queries — not the content of the videos that show up in the search.

Fact checks will appear on terms based on the content available from YouTube’s partners regarding that particular search query.

Last summer, YouTube launched new features specifically designed to enhance how breaking and current events news is displayed on the platform. The changes raised authoritative journalistic content to the top of search queries involving major news events.

Just earlier this year, YouTube also unveiled its plans to specifically deal with conspiratorial content on the site. Conspiracy theories in general aren’t against YouTube’s terms of service and are allowed on the platform. However, the company decided to make changes to its recommendation algorithm so that it would no longer promote “borderline” content and “harmful” misinformation.

YouTube’s decision to provide these panels on search result pages, as opposed to video pages, is significant.

Once on a video page, a charismatic YouTube creator can more easily sway a viewer to believe misinformation. YouTube’s recommendation algorithm is notorious for pushing similar content to users on the video page, pulling people to watch content that further reinforces those beliefs. If a user searches for information on the site and discovers that it's false before clicking on a video, that may just save a user from falling down that rabbit hole.