2023-08-17 15:18:59
Disinformation on Covid-19, vaccines, harmful substances… YouTube is attacking fake news broadcast on its own site. The video platform announced a tightening of the rules against medical misinformation, while indicating that it wanted to maintain a “balance between the removal of extremely harmful content and the creation of a space for debate and discussion”.
But, in reality, what does this mean? YouTube announces that “any content that contradicts the recommendations of health authorities on the prevention and transmission of certain diseases, as well as the safety and effectiveness of approved vaccines” will be removed.
Videos that dispute the existence of Covid-19 deleted?
The same is true for the treatment of these same diseases. The platform points the finger in particular “content that encourages unproven remedies instead of consulting a doctor (…) such as the promotion of cesium chloride as a cancer treatment”.
⚕️ YouTube tightens its rules against medical misinformation, divided into three categories (prevention, treatment, disease denial).
Will now be removed, for example, “any content promoting cancer treatments deemed dangerous or ineffective”.
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— Nicolas Berrod (@nicolasberrod) August 17, 2023
Main sources of problematic information in recent years, content around Covid-19 is also targeted. “We remove content that disputes the existence of certain health problems, announces the platform. This is the case for content that denies that people have died from Covid-19. »
To guard against any criticism of a potential restriction of freedom and debate around health, YouTube still promises to maintain, for example, “content of sufficient public interest, even if it violates our rules (…) debate and discussion being essential to the advancement of science and medicine”. This could be the case of election candidates, or testimonials from patients.
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