YouTube to promote ‘authoritative’ virus content on homepage

Washington:YouTube has unveiled a fresh effort to stem the spread of coronavirus misinformation with a “news shelf” on its homepage promoting “authoritative content”. The move is the latest by technology platforms to curb the sharing of rumors and hoaxes about the pandemic, with Facebook having announced a similar action this week.

“We want everyone to have access to authoritative content during this trying time, so we’re launching a COVID-19 news shelf on our homepage in 16 countries,” the Google-owned video sharing service said in a statement on Twitter late Thursday.

“We’ll expand to more countries, as well.” YouTube earlier this week joined other large US internet platforms in a joint effort to root out misinformation about the coronavirus pandemic.