YouTube announces expanded fact checking for the United States

YouTube has published an official blog post that talks about its expanded fact checks for YouTube in the United States. The video service says that over the last two years, more and more people have begun coming to YouTube for news and information. That information runs the gamut from election coverage to perspectives on different topics and information about breaking news events.

One of the events that have brought more people to YouTube in recent months is the coronavirus/COVID-19 pandemic. YouTube says that it's continuing to improve the news experience on the service, including raising authoritative sources of information across the site. YouTube is now expanding its fact check information panels that were launched in Brazil and India last year to the United States.

The fact check feature will expand on other ways that YouTube is using to connect people with authoritative sources. YouTube says that it started introducing information panels in 2018 with a wide range of contextual information from links to sources like Encyclopedia Britannica and Wikipedia for topics that were prone to misinformation. More recently, that has been expanded to cover coronavirus and includes links to the WHO, CDC, or local health authorities.

YouTube says that the fact check information panels provide fresh context in those situations by highlighting relevant third-party fact-checked articles above search results for relevant queries to allow viewers to make informed decisions about claims made in the news. YouTube says not all queries will result in a fact check panel. YouTube writes, "For example, if someone searches for 'did a tornado hit Los Angeles,' they might see a relevant fact check article, but if they search for a more general query like 'tornado,' they may not." YouTube says that its fact check information panel relies on an open network of third-party publishers leverages the ClaimReview tagging system. YouTube has in the past threatened to ban anyone who goes against the WHO.