YouTube has begun filtering user-uploaded videos containing false medical information.It will be removed immediately on the same day.
YouTube has listed a large number of contents including incorrect treatments for the new coronavirus, incorrect abortion information, and incorrect cancer treatments that have been spread on the platform since 2020 as key filtering items.
At the same time, YouTube also stated that the content filtering criteria will be based on information released by national and regional health agencies or the World Health Organization. Therefore, videos such as using garlic to treat cancer and replacing cancer chemotherapy with vitamin C injections will be removed.
To enable more people to find accurate medical information through YouTube, Google is currently working with the large medical institution Mayo Clinic to include a large number of playlists of video content from reliable sources, allowing users to more easily obtain accurate cancer treatment information.
The exceptions to this filtering policy are public hearings or comments made by candidates on health-related issues during the campaign. Even if they contain false information, YouTube will consider that such videos are focused on recording the content of the speech at the time and are not intended as medical references, so they will not be removed.
