08/18/2023 // Arsenio Toledo // 390 Views
YouTube has created a new framework to crack down on so-called "medical misinformation" on the platform.
"In the years since we began our efforts to make YouTube a destination for high-quality health content, we've learned critical lessons about developing Community Guidelines in line with local and global health authority guidance on topics that pose serious real world risks, such as misinformation on [Wuhan coronavirus] COVID-19, vaccines, reproductive health, harmful substances and more," reads a blog post written by YouTube. "We're taking what we've learned so far about the most effective ways to tackle medical misinformation to simplify our approach for creators, viewers and partners." (Related: MEMORY HOLED: YouTube CENSORS Project Veritas documentary exposing Pfizer's plan to direct COVID-19 mutations.)
YouTube's new policy will streamline its existing policy into three distinct categories, which would make it easier in the long-term for the platform to suppress medical information.
The three types of so-called medical misinformation that will be censored are "Prevention, Treatment and Denial."
YouTube will censor anyone contradicting health experts
"Our goal is to ensure that when it comes to areas of well-studied scientific consensus, YouTube is not a platform for distributing information that could harm people," wrote the company.
What this means is that YouTube will remove content contradicting or in any way questioning the "guidance" from local, national or international health authorities on the prevention and transmission of certain conditions, including vaccinations.
YouTube will also start taking down content that contradicts the so-called health experts regarding the treatment for certain conditions, including videos that allegedly tout "unproven remedies" in place of seeking care at hospitals. This also includes content that denies the existence of certain conditions, including COVID-19.
The platform noted that its new policies "will apply to specific health conditions, treatments and substances where content contradicts local health authorities or the World Health Organization (WHO)."
"To determine if a condition, treatment or substance is in scope of our medical misinformation policies, we'll evaluate whether it's associated with a high public health risk, publicly available guidance from health authorities around the world and whether it's generally prone to misinformation," reads YouTube's blog post.
Along with targeting so-called medical misinformation about COVID-19, YouTube will also be targeting alleged misinformation regarding cancer treatments. The company said it will begin to remove "content that promotes cancer treatments proven to be harmful or ineffective, or content that discourages viewers from seeking professional medical treatment."
This includes content that promotes so-called "unproven treatments;" treatments that claim to be guaranteed cures; and treatments that have specifically been blacklisted by health authorities. Among the examples YouTube noted include claims regarding garlic and vitamin C and their ability to deal help the fight against cancer.
Along with removing all content questioning the medically-approved treatments for cancer, YouTube will also begin promoting cancer-related content from so-called "authoritative sources" like the Mayo Clinic and the WHO.
The change in YouTube's censorship policies marks a substantial escalation in the platform's ongoing campaign against anything it chooses to consider "medical misinformation."
The platform's updated policies also come a few years after YouTube initially strengthened its approach regarding so-called medical misinformation during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to the censorship of over one million videos in the span of a few months over allegations of COVID-19 misinformation.
Last year, YouTube cracked down on videos containing alleged misinformation regarding abortion and took down videos it deemed to be unsafe.
