The campaign effort, which is led by Full Fact, alleges that the video-sharing platform is particularly rife with Covid-19 misinformation that encourages people to boycott vaccinations or treat the virus with bogus cures. YouTube has also been used to promote false cures for cancer for a number of years. The issue is not limited to YouTube: a report from June 2020, soon after the pandemic began, estimated that 90.6 per cent of reported misinformation relating to Covid-19 remained visible online with no warnings attached. “YouTube has recently framed discussions about disinformation as a fals ..read more

The video sharing site said the account would be inaccessible for “a minimum of seven days”, meaning Trump will not have access until after President-elect Joe Biden takes office. Social networks have been clamping down on Trump’s personal accounts since the attack on the US Capitol building last week which temporarily halted Biden’s confirmation and led to five deaths. Facebook and Instagram were the first major platforms to ban Trump, followed by Twitter over the weekend. Trump’s YouTube channel is now prevented from uploading new videos or livestreams for a minimum of seven days, which ma ..read more

Now, Katzenberg is nearly 70, so maybe we should cut him some slack, but short-form video content? That can be watched on the go? There’s another niche platform that already serves that purpose and if he’d done a little research maybe he would have come across it: it’s called YouTube. YouTube is now 15 years old with the financial backing of Google - arguably the internet’s biggest player -propping it up should it not make a profit (yes, it’s still not entirely clear whether YouTube is actually a profitable business in its own right). YouTube also serves an incredibly broad ra ..read more

Researchers analysed the contents of 69 of the most-watched coronavirus-related videos as of 21 March. They found that 19 of the videos (27.5 per cent) contained inaccuracies; these videos had been watched more than 62 million times. Inaccuracies in these videos varied from misleading advice, which could cause social disruption, to absurd conspiracy theories. Some of the false claims being made are that pharmaceutical companies are withholding a cure; that there is a stronger strain of the virus in Iran and Italy, and that the pandemic is a conspiracy by a “cult” to destroy sm ..read more

Hip-hop artist Jay-Z has long been a source of inspiration for other musicians. However, in a slightly unexpected turn of events, he has recently provided the inspiration for an anonymous YouTube creator who uses AI to generate incredibly realistic Jay-Z audio impersonations. Videos uploaded to the Vocal Synthesis YouTube channel featuring Jay-Z have included a video of Shakespeare’s “To be, or not to be” soliloquy from Hamlet and a snippet from the Book of Genesis spoken in a synthesised voice mimicking Jay-Z’s vocal tone and flow. These videos are labelled as speech synthesis and say in th ..read more

In her first interview since the world went into lockdown in an effort to contain the coronavirus pandemic, YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki said that the platform would stamp out “problematic” claims on the platform, including anything “medically unsubstantiated”. “People saying “Take Vitamin C, take turmeric we’ll cure you”, those are the examples of things that would be a violation of our policy,” Wojcicki said, speaking on CNN’s Reliable Sources. “Anything that would go against [WHO] recommendations would be a violation of our policy.” The decision to base judgements on WHO recommendations cou ..read more

At least seven mobile masts have been targeted with arson attacks in the past week, including in Melling, Liverpool, Belfast, and Birmingham (the Birmingham-based mast did not have 5G capability). Videos of the attacks were posted on social media platforms afterwards. Mayor of Liverpool Joe Anderson said that he had been threatened after he dismissed the conspiracy theories as “bizarre”. Telecoms engineers (including employees of broadband companies) have also reported verbal and physical threats motivated by conspiracy theories linking 5G technology with Covid-19. Many conspiracy theories h ..read more

Shares in the firm fell by 5 per cent following an announcement by chief executive Sundar Pichai which also included data about Google’s advertising business and other sales figures. Just last month Alphabet achieved a market capitalisation of $1tr, making it the fourth US company to reach that significant financial milestone. The firm as a whole appears to be in rude financial health, with a net profit of $10.7bn for the fourth quarter ending December 31, an increase on the $8.9bn figure announced in the same year-ago quarter. But YouTube appeared to be the black sheep for many investors ..read more

The changes, which include limitations on data collection and advertising, are a step towards addressing concerns from advocacy groups who complained the video service has breached the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), which forbids tracking and targeting users aged 13 and under. As part of the changes to the site, YouTube said it will seek to better distinguish which content is intended primarily for children, relying on a combination of self-identification from creators and software. Furthermore, under the new rules that the video-sharing platform has introduced, such cont ..read more

PoliMonitor, a political technology company, analysed 139,564 tweets sent approximately one month (November 11) before polling day (December 12), which either mentioned or replied to the candidates standing in the 2019 election. The analysis found that the candidates received abuse or insulting remarks in 16.5 per cent of mentions or replies. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the highest-profile candidates – the three main UK-wide party leaders – were targeted most frequently. Of the 515 candidates who were abused on this day, the top 150 candidates received 96 per cent of the bullying tweets. Dian ..read more