YouTube has announced that it has deleted around one million videos that, since February 2020, were spreading dangerous misinformation related to COVID-19.
Neal Mahon, a YouTube official, has shared a statistic showing how the company reacts to false information being distributed on the platform.
"Disinformation has gone from the fringe to the mainstream. No longer confined to the closed worlds of Holocaust deniers or 9-11 believers, it now permeates every aspect of society, sometimes destroying communities with great speed," Mahon said.
“Bad content represents only a small percentage of the billions of videos on YouTube (about .16-.18% of total views are found to be content that violates our policies). For example, since February 2020 we have removed over 1 million videos related to dangerous coronavirus misinformation, such as fake cures or claims of a scam. In the midst of a global pandemic, everyone needs to be armed with the best information available to keep themselves and their families safe,” Mahon wrote on his blog. (here).
YouTube removes almost 10 million videos every quarter, most of which don't even reach 10 views.
Facebook recently made a similar argument regarding content on its platform. The social network released a report last week claiming that the most popular posts are memes and other non-political content.
Both Facebook and YouTube have come under particular scrutiny for their policies around health misinformation during the pandemic. Both platforms have over a billion users, meaning even a small piece of content can have a wide impact.
And both platforms have so far refused to reveal details about how vaccine and health misinformation spreads or how many users are encountering it.
Mahon also said that removing misinformation is just one aspect of the company's approach. YouTube is also working on "gathering information from trusted sources and reducing the spread of harmful misinformation videos."