Good news! YouTube plans crackdown, set to empower you during Lok Sabha elections

All the major social media platforms are introducing a number of new features to curb the spread of misinformation during the ongoing Lok Sabha election in India and thereby provide users good content and thereby ensuring an empowering experience. Hopping on to the bandwagon, YouTube has said that it will now highlight whether the publisher of the content is funded by the government. In a blog post, YouTube said that the information panel will be displayed on the watch page of all the videos on its channel. "Our goal is to equip users with additional information to help them better understand the sources of news content that they choose to watch on YouTube. This information panel will be displayed on the watch page of all the videos on its channel," YouTube Director (Head of News Partnerships) Tim Katz said in a blogpost.

He added that these additional information panels will be available in English and Hindi. Katz explained that if the channel is owned by a news publisher funded by the government, an information panel will surface that indicates that the publisher is "funded in whole or in part" or a "public broadcast service", with a link to the publisher's Wikipedia page.

"When users come to YouTube, we believe they should be able to make their own decisions about the information they consume. We want to provide context alongside content on our platform to help users make more informed judgments, which we've done by introducing a wide range of information panels on certain events, topics, and publishers alongside search results and videos," Katz said.

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Earlier in March, YouTube had announced that it will show 'information panels' - flagging misinformation and offering correct insights - for news-related videos on its platform as part of its efforts to curb spread of fake news. The platform already offers features like 'Breaking News' and 'Top News'.

It has also partnered with many third-party publishers like BOOM, Quint, Factly, AFP, Jagran and others to verify the facts in news videos, and flag incorrect information to help users distinguish between misinformation and authentic news stories. YouTube has also committed USD 25 million to the news industry, as a part of a broader USD 300 million investment by the Google News Initiative.

"In December, we announced funding to 87 news projects from 23 countries around the world to build stronger video capabilities and innovate with new video formats. And 10 of these projects came from India," Katz said. He added that the company will also be investing in expanded support from YouTube specialists to support news partners grow their presence on YouTube - from providing training to helping with sophisticated technical integrations.

"We believe these positive steps will improve your experience of consuming news on YouTube and we look forward to continuing our close partnership with India's news industry, as we continue our efforts in this space," Katz emphasised.