TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - In an open letter aimed at Youtube CEO Susan Wojcickihe, an International fact-checking network that consists of more than 80 global organizations, including Tempo, voiced their concern for the video-sharing platform giant’s role in the worldwide online disinformation and misinformation.

In the letter, they had deemed Youtube “one of the major conduits of online disinformation and misinformation worldwide.”

“It’s been almost two years since the COVID-19 pandemic started. The world has seen time and time again how destructive disinformation and misinformation can be for social harmony, democracy, and public health; too many lives and livelihoods have been ruined, and far too many people have lost loved ones to disinformation,” the letter opened as published at the Poynter Institute website on January 12.

The fact-checking network stated they failed to see efforts from Youtube to implement policies that address the problem. They argue that the platform instead allows itself to be weaponized by unscrupulous actors to manipulate and exploit others, as well as to organize and fundraise themselves.

They further elaborate that “Current measures are proving insufficient. That is why we urge you to take effective action against disinformation and misinformation and to elaborate a roadmap of policy and product interventions to improve the information ecosystem – and to do so with the world’s independent, non-partisan fact-checking organizations.”

Wojcicki is urged to take effective action against disinformation and misinformation and to elaborate a roadmap of policy and product interventions to improve the information ecosystem.

<!--more-->

The network states that the last year saw conspiracy groups thriving and collaborating across borders, including an international movement that started in Germany, jumped to Spain and spread through Latin America, which all happened on the video-sharing platform.

“Millions of other users were watching videos in Greek and Arabic that encouraged them to boycott vaccinations or treat their COVID-19 infections with bogus cures. Beyond COVID-19, YouTube videos have been promoting false cures for cancer for years,” they wrote.

In Brazil, they stated, Youtube has been used to amplify hate speech against vulnerable groups, reaching tens of thousands of users.

“Elections are not safe either. In the Philippines, false content with over 2 million views denying human rights abuses and corruption during the Martial law years are being used to burnish the reputation of the late dictator’s son, one of the candidates in the 2022 elections. In Taiwan, the last election was marred by unsubstantiated accusations of fraud. The whole world witnessed the consequences of disinformation when a violent mob assaulted the U.S. Capitol last year. From the eve of the U.S. presidential election to the day after, YouTube videos supporting the “fraud” narrative were watched more than 33 million times,” the open letter stated.

“The examples are too many to count. Many of those videos and channels remain online today, and they all went under the radar of YouTube’s policies, especially in non-English speaking countries and the Global South,” said the group.

However, the fact-checkers stated that they are glad that Youtube made some moves to try to address this problem lately, but are deemed to be lacking as they deemed YouTube has yet to produce any quality data to prove its effectiveness.

The fact-checkers propose some solutions that would make a great deal of difference in reducing the dissemination of disinformation and misinformation on YouTube. They hope the company will consider implementing these ideas for the public good and to make YouTube a platform that truly does its best to prevent disinformation and misinformation from being weaponized against its users and society at large.

1. A commitment to meaningful transparency about disinformation on the platform: YouTube should support independent research about the origins of the different misinformation campaigns, their reach and impact, and the most effective ways to debunk false information. It should also publish its full moderation policy regarding disinformation and misinformation, including the use of artificial intelligence and which data powers it.
2. Beyond removing content for legal compliance, YouTube’s focus should be on providing context and offering debunks, clearly superimposed on videos or as additional video content. That only can come from entering into a meaningful and structured collaboration taking the responsibility and systematically investing in independent fact-checking efforts around the world that are working to solve these issues.
3. Acting against repeat offenders that produce content that is constantly flagged as disinformation and misinformation, particularly those monetizing that content on and outside the platform, notably by preventing its recommendation algorithms from promoting content from such sources of misinformation.
4. Extend current and future efforts against disinformation and misinformation in languages different from English, and providing country- and language-specific data, as well as transcription services that work in any language.

Read: Tempo Offers Fact-checking Fellowship in Partnership with Facebook

INTERNATIONAL FACT-CHECKING NETWORK | POYNTER