YouTube is taking a stand against vaccine misinformation, banning all content that claims vaccines are unsafe or ineffective from the platform.
In a blogpost overnight, YouTube said the decision would promote safety on the platform.
“YouTube doesn’t allow content that poses a serious risk of egregious harm by spreading medical misinformation about currently administered vaccines that are approved and confirmed to be safe and effective by local health authorities and by the World Health Organization (WHO),” Google (which owns YouTube) said.
“This is limited to content that contradicts local health authorities’ or the WHO’s guidance on vaccine safety, efficacy, and ingredients.”
Examples of content that will now not be allowed on YouTube includes videos that suggest vaccines cause chronic side effects or videos that claim vaccines do not reduce the risk of contracting COVID-19.
YouTube did say there will be some exceptions if the videos are displaying vaccine misinformation for educational or satirical purposes.
People will still be able to share their personal experiences with vaccines, provided the channel does not demonstrate a pattern of promoting vaccine misinformation.
“YouTube also believes people should be able to share their own experiences, including personal experiences with vaccinations,” YouTube said.
“This means we may make exceptions for content in which creators describe firsthand experiences from themselves or their family. At the same time, we recognize there is a difference between sharing personal experiences and promoting misinformation about vaccines.”
YouTube says creators that breach these new guidelines three times in 90 days will have their channel terminated.
And while the move should help reduce the spread of misinformation on the platform, Australian advocacy group Reset Australia has said the focus should be on YouTube’s algorithms, rather than the content.
“Content moderation is a giant game of whack-a-mole – ultimately it’s futile because there will always be new content popping up where you’re not looking,” said Chris Cooper, executive director of Reset Australia,
“If YouTube is serious about tackling misinformation it needs to be transparent about how its algorithms are amplifying this content to viewers.”
