Online videos spread misinformation
Since the pandemic started, I’ve had lots of emails from people sending me links to Youtube videos about Covid-19. Some of the emails have been pretty aggressive demands for me to watch the videos to see ‘‘just how wrong’’ I amabout a particular aspect of the pandemic or virus.
Other emails have been more polite, asking me if I agree with what is being said in the videos and if not, why not.
A recent link to arrive in my inbox directs to a long video that starts with several minutes of the interviewee listing their very impressive scientific credentials and talking about their career that has spanned several topics, including vaccine development. In otherwords, the video is designed to leave the viewer trusting whatever the expert is about to say next, which is a gobsmacking string of porkies delivered as statements of fact. I can see why people are confused.
Previous studies have shown that Youtube was a significant source of misinformation during the Influenza H1N1, ebola and zika outbreaks.
Researchers from Canada wanted to see if the same was true for Covid-19. Inmarch, the research team cleared their browser’s search history and put it into incognito mode. This means the browser won’t use the algorithms it normally uses to select what hits to deliver to the user.
The team then searched Youtube using keywords coronavirus and Covid-19, and picked the 150 videos with the most views. Limiting themselves to results in English and less than an hour long, the researchers ended up with a list of 69 videos about Covid-19, which had been seen more than 257 million times. More than half are described as made by news sources or the public.
Just two were from government sources.
Two researchers watched each video and gave it a score for the amount of factual information it contained about things like the spread of the virus, typical symptoms, and possible treatments. The team have just published their results in the journal, BMJ Global Health.
The good news? About three out of four videos contained accurate information. Phew. The videos made by government sources were the most informative though they were less likely to be watched, with just 2 per cent of the views.
But the bad news is that roughly one in four of the videos contained misleading or inaccurate information. And they had been watched more than 62 million times worldwide.
Videos like these are endangering lives. In New Zealand videos spreading conspiracy theories about the source of the pandemic have even resulted in the destruction of crucial infrastructure. It’s time media giants such as Youtube stopped being complicit in this.
Videos spreading conspiracy theories about the source of the pandemic have even resulted in the destruction of crucial infrastructure.
Dr Siouxsie Wilesmnzmis an associate professor at the University of Auckland and a deputy director of Te Pu¯naha Matatini, anew Zealand Centre of Research Excellence.