Google-owned YouTube on Tuesday announced a new commitment of 20 million dollars to produce authoritative news to counter false online information spreading on its platform, especially at the time of breaking-news events.
According to YouTube, the funding is part of the Google News Initiative launched in March to “help journalism thrive in the digital age’’.
This was intended to combat fake news on the platforms of the world’s largest video-sharing network and give publishers more opportunities to make money.
“YouTube is expanding its Player for Publishers, a solution that allows publishers and news organisations to embed YouTube’s video player on their own websites and mobile apps.
“The player, which was rolled out in Europe in 2015, is now being used by over 100 publishers in 25 countries,’’ YouTube said.
Neal Mohan, chief product officer at YouTube, said: “The company is establishing a working group with global news organisations, including Vox Media, Jovem Pan and India Today, to improve news production on the platform.’’
According to him, it will also fund about 20 global markets to support news outlets in building video capabilities and train video productionEncyclopedia staff.
“YouTube pledges to make authoritative sources more readily accessible because it says authoritativeness is essential to viewers, especially during fast-moving, breaking news events.
“It will add a short preview of news articles in search results on YouTube in the U.S. in coming weeks that link to the full article during the initial hours of a major news event.
“This is along with a reminder that breaking news can change rapidly,’’ he noted.
According to Mohan, YouTube starts to display information from third parties such as Wikip and Encyclopaedia Britannica, and video clips on well-established historical and scientific topics.
“We are eager to correct possible distorted information about breaking news events, like the famous moon landing and the 1995 Oklahoma City Bombing that killed no fewer than 168 people and injured over 680 others.
“We’re also ready 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,’’ Mohan said.
