YouTube, the Google-owned streaming service is committing $25 million to fight fake news on its platform, which funding is part of the $300 million News Initiative launched by Google in March.
The company plans to enlist the help of some of the platform's most popular creators to educate users about fake news, which is especially targeted at youngsters, with Ingrid Nilsen and Mark Watson working with MediaWise to educate the teenagers about digital media literacy.
Beginning from Monday, YouTube videos will include text from outside sources for select streams to educate users and make it easier for them to reach own conclusions on the matter, which sources include: Wikipedia and Encyclopaedia Britannica.
It will also show previews and links to news articles and their sources in its search results, along with a reminder on facts and details in developing stories.
YouTube will facilitate easy news for people with "Top News" and "Breaking News" features that will highlight new videos from established media organizations. While the feature is already live in 17 countries including: UK, US, France, Nigeria and Italy, with promise of expanding the reach to more countries soon.
This is perhaps coming to address the recent backlash on YouTube for inappropriate videos as well as fake news on its site, which led to the deletion of about 150,000 videos that attracted sexually inappropriate comments targeted at teenagers.
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