👀 YouTube's new fact-checking feature

👉 The what and the why

As the US approaches the 2024 elections, platforms like YouTube, Facebook, and TikTok have focused on reducing the spread of misinformation.

The most recent step in this direction is a feature called “Notes,” released by YouTube on an invitation-only basis. This feature lets users add additional information to content posted on the platform, with the primary goal of combating misinformation by enabling the community to provide additional insights.

This initiative is part of YouTube's broader strategy to improve content moderation and ensure that viewers have access to accurate information.

How it works:

1. Access: Notes is currently in a pilot phase where a select handful of candidates have access to use the feature.

2. Users contribute: Eligible users can append notes to videos, providing context such as clarifying if a song is a parody or if old footage is being misrepresented as current

3. Contributions are reviewed: Viewers will encounter notes under videos and will be asked to rate them as "helpful," "somewhat helpful," or "unhelpful." They can also provide explanations for their ratings, such as the presence of high-quality sources or neutral language

During this testing phase, YouTube expects errors and emphasizes that this is a learning process. Feedback from viewers, contributors, and creators will be used to refine the feature.

As the system improves, YouTube plans to gradually expand the feature, potentially making it available to a broader audience and across more video categories.

👉 The implications for you

Overall, the key here is it will improve the ability to trust the content you consume. Whether it's educational, a political speech, or a bold statement in a podcast, all of these will be checked by the public. And if proven false, will be publically visible to be so.

Summarized, some of the areas it can help you are:

• Improved Credibility: The ability to add context and corrections will likely improve the overall credibility of content published on YouTube.

• Fewer fake content: With the rise of AI it is becoming easier every day to create fake content of someone saying, doing, or showing something they have nothing to do with. Notes will likely help combat these types of misinformation.

• Educational Value: For users relying on YouTube for educational content, this new feature is likely to drastically improve their trust in the content they consume.

🔥 Our take on it

Even in a world with AI and enormous data centers, fact-checking basic statements remains challenging online.

Last year, X (formerly Twitter) rebranded Birdwatch to what is now called Community Notes. This move made it possible for any user to fact-check and, if desired, add additional information to any post on the platform, similar to what YouTube Notes is doing.

The move was initially met with skepticism but has proven to be very effective for accounts ranging from politicians to random unknown accounts going viral.

We believe that YouTube’s move to embrace this community-focused approach will likely improve the credibility of the online content.

A great example is how, during the COVID-19 pandemic, many people were fooled by false videos claiming that the protective masks were actually contaminated with larvae. This led to people using the masks less, and ultimately increasing the spread of the virus.

Seeing YouTube’s Notes feature roll out in a year of US elections is now a surprise, and time will tell how it affects users and their content.

👋 See you on Thursday!

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