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Alphabet Inc’s YouTube said Tuesday that it is adding a link to provide information on the development of COVID-19 vaccines to the coronavirus panel on its site, expanding its efforts to combat misinformation related to the pandemic.
The link will direct users to authoritative information about the COVID-19 vaccine from a third-party source such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention or the World Health Organization (WHO), the company said in a statement.
Conspiracy theories and misinformation about new coronavirus vaccines have proliferated on social media, including through anti-vaccine personalities on YouTube and viral videos shared across multiple platforms.
Last week, a study conducted in the United States and Britain found that conspiracy theories and misinformation fuel mistrust in vaccines and could drive levels that potential COVID-19 vaccines are being administered below the rates needed to protect communities against disease.
In October, the video platform said it would remove videos containing misinformation about COVID-19 vaccines and ban any content with claims that contradict local consensus. Health authorities or WHO.
YouTube’s move on Tuesday follows the promising results of two major vaccine efforts. Moderna Inc said Monday that its experimental COVID-19 vaccine is more than 94.5% effective according to interim data from late-stage trials. Last week, Pfizer Inc said its vaccine was shown to be more than 90% effective. —Report of Mrinalika Roy in Bengaluru; Edited by Shailesh Kuber
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