According to YouTube more than a quarter of the most-viewed coronavirus videos on YouTube contain “misleading or inaccurate information”, a study suggests.
The false misleading coronavirus videos, in total, had been viewed more than 62 million times.
Among the false video claims was the idea that pharmaceutical companies already have a coronavirus vaccine but are refusing to sell it.
According to YouTube, it was committed to reducing the spread of harmful misinformation.
The researchers suggested “good quality, accurate information” had been uploaded to YouTube by government bodies and health experts.
However, it said the videos were often difficult to understand and lacked the popular appeal of YouTube stars and vloggers.
Published online by BMJ Global Health, the study looked at the most widely viewed coronavirus-related videos in English, as of 21 March.
Duplicate videos, videos longer than an hour and videos that did not include relevant audio or visual material were excluding and were left with 69 to analyse.
The videos were scored on whether they presented exclusively factual information about viral spread, coronavirus symptoms, prevention and potential treatments.
Videos from government agencies scored significantly better than other sources, however, were less widely viewed.
Of the 19 videos found to include misinformation:
- about a third came from entertainment news sources
- national news outlets accounted for about a quarter
- internet news sources also account for about a quarter
- 13% had been uploaded by independent video-makers
According to the report, governments and health authorities should collaborate with entertainment news sources and social media influencers to make appealing, factual content that is more widely viewed.
In a statement, YouTube said: “We’re committed to providing timely and helpful information at this critical time, including raising authoritative content, reducing the spread of harmful misinformation and showing information panels, using NHS and World Health Organization (WHO) data, to help combat misinformation.
“We have clear policies that prohibit videos promoting medically unsubstantiated methods to prevent the coronavirus in place of seeking medical treatment, and we quickly remove videos violating these policies when flagged to us. Now any content that disputes the existence or transmission of Covid-19, as described by the WHO and the NHS is in violation of YouTube policies. For borderline content that could misinform users in harmful ways, we reduce recommendations.
“We’ll continue to evaluate the impact of these videos on communities around the world.”
