Open letter to the CEO of YouTube from the fact-checkers of the world

Dear  Susan Wojcicki :

It has been almost two years since the COVID-19 pandemic began. The world has seen time and again how destructive disinformation can be to coexistence, democracy and public health; too many lives and livelihoods have been ruined and too many people have lost loved ones because of disinformation. 

As an international network of verification organizations, we are dedicated to monitoring how lies are spread on the Internet, and every day we see that YouTube is one of the world’s leading channels for disinformation. This is an important and worrying issue for our global community of fact-checkers.

We don’t see any real effort on YouTube’s part to implement policies that address this problem. Meanwhile, YouTube allows unscrupulous actors to use its platform as a weapon to manipulate and exploit others, and to organize and raise money. Current policies are insufficient. We therefore urge you to take effective action against disinformation and misinformation, and to develop a roadmap of measures to improve your information ecosystem, with the help of independent and nonpartisan verification organizations.

In the last year we have seen how denialist groups prospered and collaborated across borders, including a  movement that began in Germany, jumped to Spain and spread throughout Latin America, all through YouTube. At the same time, millions of users had access to videos in Greek or Arabic that encouraged them to join  anti-vaccine boycotts or treat COVID-19 infections using fake cures. Aside from false information related to the pandemic, YouTube videos have been promoting false cancer remedies for years.

In Brazil, the platform has been used to amplify hate speech against vulnerable groups, with messages that have reached tens of thousands of users. The electoral processes have not been left out either: in the Philippines, false content with more than 2 million views that denies the violation of human rights and corruption during the years of the Marcos dictatorship has been used to improve the reputation of the son of the last dictator, one of the candidates for the 2022 elections. In Taiwan, the last elections were marred by unfounded accusations of fraud. The entire world also witnessed the consequences of disinformation when a violent mob stormed the United States Capitol last year. From the eve of the US presidential election until the day after, YouTube videos supporting the «fraud» narrative had more than 33 million views .

The examples are too many to keep track of. Many of those videos and channels are still active today and all slipped through YouTube’s controls, especially in non-English speaking countries and the global South. We’re glad the company has taken some steps to try to fix this issue, but based on what we see on the platform every day, we believe these initiatives are not working, nor has YouTube released quality data to support their effectiveness.

So far, the company has limited the debate about disinformation to a false dichotomy between deleting or not deleting content. In this way, YouTube avoids the possibility of doing what really works: our experience as fact-checkers and academic evidence show that providing context with verified information is more effective than removing content. This alternative also preserves freedom of expression while recognizing that providing such additional information can mitigate risks to life, health, safety, and democratic processes. And since  a large portion  of views on YouTube come from its own recommendation algorithm, the platform should also ensure that it is not actively promoting disinformation or recommending content from unreliable channels to users. 

With all this in mind, we propose some solutions that would make a big difference in reducing the spread of disinformation and misinformation on YouTube. 

• A  serious commitment to transparency  regarding disinformation on the platform. YouTube must support independent research into the origin, scope and impact of different disinformation campaigns, and the most effective methods of combating false information. You must also fully publish your moderation policy regarding disinformation and misinformation, including the use of artificial intelligence and the data on which it is based.
• Beyond removing content that violates the law, YouTube should focus on  providing context and denials  clearly overlaid within videos or as additional video content. That can only be done through meaningful, structured collaboration in which YouTube takes responsibility and systematically invests in independent fact-checking initiatives working around the world to solve these problems.
• Take action against repeat disinformers who produce content that is consistently flagged as disinformation and misinformation, particularly those who monetize that content on and off the platform. Specifically, it is about preventing recommendation algorithms from promoting content from these sources of disinformation.
• Expand current and future efforts against disinformation and misinformation in languages ​​other than English, and provide country- and language-specific data and transcription services that work in any language.

We hope that you will value the possibility of putting these ideas into practice for the public good and to ensure that YouTube is a platform that truly uses all means to prevent disinformation and misinformation from becoming weapons against users and society in general. general. We are prepared to provide YouTube with all the help it needs in this task. We would like to meet with you to discuss these issues and find ways that lead to effective collaboration. We await your response to this proposal.

Africa Check  (Senegal, Nigeria, Kenya, South Africa) /  Animal Político – El Sabueso  (Mexico) /  Aos Fatos  (Brazil) /  Bolivia Verifica  (Bolivia) /  BOOM  (India, Burma and Bangladesh) /  Check Your Fact  (USA) ) /  Code for Africa – PesaCheck  (Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Ivory Coast, Ethiopia, Ghana, Guinea, Kenya, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda and Zimbabwe) /  Colombiacheck  (Colombia) /  CORRECTIV  (Germany) /  Cotejo.info  (Venezuela) /  Chequeado  (Argentina) /  Delfi Lithuania  (Lithuania) /  Demagog Association  (Poland) /  Doğruluk Payı  (Turkey) /  Dubawa  (Nigeria, Ghana, Sierra Leone, Liberia and Gambia) /  Ecuador Chequea  (Ecuador) /  Ellinika Hoaxes  (Greece) /  Fact Crescendo  (India) /  Fact-Check Ghana  /  FactCheck.org  (USA) /  FactSpace West Africa  /  Facta  (Italy) /  FactcheckNI  (UK) /  Factly  (India) /  Factual.ro  (Romania) / FactWatch  (Bangladesh) /  Fakenews.pl  (Poland) /  Faktist.no  (Norway) /  Faktograf.hr  (Croatia) /  Faktoje  (Albania) /  Fast Check CL  (Chile) /  Fatabyyano  (Middle East and North Africa) /  Full Fact  (United Kingdom) /  GRASS  – FactCheck Georgia /  India Today Group  (India) /  Istinomer  (Serbia) /  Istinomjer  (Bosnia-Herzegovina) /  Hibrid.info  (Kosovo) /  Knack Magazine  (Belgium) /  La Silla Vacía  (Colombia) /  Lead Stories  (USA). USA) /  Les Surligneurs  (France) /  Logically  (UK) /  Lupa  (Brazil) /  Maldita.es  (Spain) /  MediaWise  (USA) /  Mongolian Fact-checking Center  (Mongolia) /  MyGoPen  (Taiwan) /  Myth Detector  (Georgia) /  NewsMobile  (India) /  Newschecker  (India and South Asia) /  Newtral  (Spain) /  Observer – Fact Check (Portugal) /  Open Fact-checking  (Italy) /  OŠTRO  (Slovenia) /  Pagella Politica  (Italy)  Poligrafo  (Portugal) /  PolitiFact  (USA) /  Pravda  (Poland) /  Raskrinkavanje  (Bosnia-Herzegovina) /  Re:Check /Re:Baltica  (Latvia) /  RMIT ABC Fact Check  (Australia)  Rumor Scanner  (Bangladesh) /  Science Feedback  (France) /  StopFake  (Ukraine) /  Stopfals.md  (Moldova) /  Taiwan FactCheck Center  (Taiwan) /  Tempo  (Indonesia) /  Teyit  (Turkey) /  The Healthy Indian Project/THIP Media  (India) /  The Journal FactCheck  (Ireland) /  The Logical Indian  (India) /  The Quint  (India) /  The Washington Post Fact-checker  (USA) /  The Whistle  (Israel) /  Univision – elDetector  (USA) /  VERA Files  (Philippines) /  Verificat  (Spain) /  Vishvas News  (India) /  Vistinomer  (North Macedonia) /  VoxCheck  (Ukraine) /  Youturn.in  (India) ) /  15min  (Lithuania).