YouTube attempts to stop misinformation
“Fake news” seems to be a popular discussion in today’s media, and it seems to be very apparent on YouTube, where content creators can use misinformation in their videos to gain more views.
YouTube chief product officer Neal Mohan announced on Monday that the company is “making changes to put more authoritative content in front of people.” Critics are wary about how they will determine what content is “authoritative,” but YouTube sought to appease these critics by releasing product changes at a New York press event.
For example, the search engine will now feature more reputable sources, diluting less respected sources. Additionally, the site will add a panel that highlights trending topics, which also originate from respectable sources. This will filter out unwanted conspiracy theorists and casual vloggers who may have misleading information or opinions.
Mohan also reported that videos will feature text which will offer links to news stories and websites such as Wikipedia. These stories and websites can provide more accurate information than content creators might deliver. Although YouTube won’t prevent users from creating videos – as creative freedom is the entire point of YouTube – they can certainly organize the information better for viewers.
YouTube plans on spending $25 million on grants for news organizations and staff, opening up new jobs for the media giant. Most importantly, the company notes that they will not fund specific news sources over others; instead, they just want to manage the information so the public can receive more accurate news.
Featured image via HipHop-N-More
