In an effort to combat health misinformation, YouTube allows some healthcare professionals to apply for verification.
Starting Thursday, licensed healthcare providers like doctors, nurses and mental health professionals can sign up to make their channel eligible for features. YouTube’s health products, labeling them as authoritative sources on health topics. It will also promote their video at the top of someone’s search.
YouTube is expanding the program it launched last year with educational institutions, public health departments, hospitals, and government organizations. Organizations like the Cleveland Clinic, the Mayo Clinic, and Mass Brigham General have labels on their YouTube videos stating that they are accredited sources of health information.
Dr. Garth Graham, Global Director of Healthcare at YouTube, said creating a similar verification label for healthcare professionals was a natural next step.
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“The truth is that the majority of people who create medical information, not just on YouTube but on the web, are individuals like doctors, nurses, and other professionals,” says Graham. “During the time of COVID, we have all seen a large number of healthcare professionals using platforms like ours to try to communicate health information. Clinicians are not only interested in publishing in journals, but in reaching people.”
Graham says that individual providers with accounts in good standing must follow practices set forth by the Council of Medical Specialties, the National Academy of Medicine, and the World Health Organization. Practices focus on providing evidence-based and objective, transparent and comprehensive information.
The move comes as YouTube and other popular social media sites have tried to combat medical misinformation that has increased during COVID. Results have been mixed.
According to a May study in BMC Medical Education, less than a third of health-related videos on YouTube are objective. A March study, from researchers at the University of Ottawa School of Medicine, found that 11% of their videos — 18 million views — on COVID had information that contradicted the World Health Organization or the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Disease Control and Prevention.
“We’ve made a lot of progress over the past year with our removal policies, especially misinformation about COVID vaccines, harmful substances and that kind of thing,” Graham said.
YouTube’s parent company, Alphabet, was recently sued by Dr. Joseph Mercola, a Florida doctor, who claimed he unjustly expelled the platform for his anti-vaccination videos. YouTube has also removed anti-vaccination advocate and comedian Russell Brand for misinformation about COVID.
This story first appeared on Digital Health Business & Technology.
