YouTube CEO Warns COVID-19 Videos That Don't Follow WHO Guidelines Will Be Banned

COVID-19 lockdown is getting harder every day. And for people who cannot really afford to subscribe to streaming platforms either rely on their trusty yet dated cable network or YouTube.

Reuters

YouTube is a constant source of entertainment for many, whether it¡¯s watching cool music videos, informative tutorials or vlogs to inspire you and help you feel optimistic amidst the negativity of COVID-19.

Popularity in COVID-19 related content

And there is an upward trend when talking about COVID-19 themed content. According to a report by media agency Mindshare as well as video analytics firm Vidooly, a total of three billion views were registered across social media platforms on videos related to COVID-19 in the first quarter of 2020.

COVID-19 related content has seen a surge of 98% in terms of views and 199% in terms of engagement. Informational content such as trivia, is commonly seen on YouTube, whereas Facebook sees a lot of awareness or prevention themed videos.

We¡¯re aware of the talented YouTuber community that creates unique content for us, however, among the talented YouTube community, a few exist who are talking about ways to prevent COVID-19, but not in accordance with WHO¡¯s recommendations.

Well, its bad news for these guys, as YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki has announced that content that will contradict WHO¡¯s recommendations will be banned and pulled down.

Reuters

Ban against videos contradicting WHO guidelines

She revealed this in a program by CNN, dubbed Reliable Sources, stating that YouTube will be ¡°removing information that is problematic.¡±

She said, ¡°So 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. Anything that would go against World Health Organisation recommendations would be a violation of our policy.¡±

Reuters

This is YouTube¡¯s second prompt action against spreading of unverified information after it pulled down videos that promoted 5G conspiracy theories and linking 5G with the novel coronavirus.

Moreover, in March, YouTube also announced that it would be demonetising videos talking about COVID-19, categorising the videos as a part of ¡®sensitive events¡¯ content as per its policies.

However, this faced quite a backlash in the YouTube creator community, and YouTube eventually flipped back on this decision on March 12.