Google's video streaming service YouTube announced on Monday its commitment to fight the proliferation of fake news on the internet by promoting "authoritative" and credible news sources to the fore. In lieu of this advocacy, YouTube will pledge $25 million. This is part of the earlier $300 million Google News Initiative that was launched in March.
In an official statement released this week, the Google subsidiary will start showing previews and links to the full news articles as well as their corresponding sources on its search results.
YouTube will also provide reminders that the facts and information currently disseminated "can rapidly change." This is especially relevant to breaking and developing news.
Moreover, users may now find videos with text from third parties like Wikipedia and Encyclopaedia Britannica for them to easily verify the information. This fact-checking feature is intended to further validate "well-established historical and scientific topics" which ironically, have often been "subject to misinformation." Famous examples are the moon landing of the US Apollo 11 in 1969 and the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing which claimed the lives of almost 200 people.
"We know there is a lot of work to do, but we're eager to provide a better experience to users who come to YouTube every day to learn more about what is happening in the world from a diversity of sources," YouTube said on its blog.
To promote local awareness, YouTube will also be testing features that will distribute local news in its video app via connected TVs. This initiative is expected to kick start in the US airwaves.
The popular red play button company suffers criticism not only for the fake news but also for the inappropriate videos found on its site. A report from CNET pointed out that by November last year, they were able to eradicate more 100,000 videos that instigate comments of lewd to sexual comments. Violent videos also made their way even to YouTube Kids app which prompts the site to make new submission guidelines.
