YouTube has expanded its policies on medical misinformation with new guidelines on vaccines. These new policies want to focus on information about vaccines that are currently administered and that have been approved and confirmed as safe and effective by health authorities and by the WHO or World Health Organization.
YouTube Community Guidelines they already ban certain types of medical misinformation. This platform has long eliminated content that promotes harmful remedies, such as saying that drinking turpentine or bleach can cure diseases. At the beginning of COVID-19, YouTube officials worked with experts to develop new policies around information about this pandemic and medical misinformation. Since last year, Google’s video social network has removed more than 130,000 videos for violating its policies on the COVID-19 vaccine.
What content will be censored
Specifically, content that falsely claims that approved vaccines are dangerous or that cause chronic health effects. Also those videos where it is mentioned that vaccines do not reduce the transmission or contraction of diseases, or that contain erroneous information about the substances contained in vaccines.
Too content that says approved vaccines cause autism, cancer, or infertility will be removed, or that the substances in vaccines can track those who receive them.
These changes to the YouTube usage policy will come into force today and, “as with any important update, our systems will take time to fully apply them,” they explained from the social platform.
Information to be kept about vaccines
As clarified from YouTube, “as with our COVID guidelines, we have consulted local and international health organizations and experts to develop these policies,” among which there are sources “health authorities and their information backed by medical consensus“.
On the other hand, to maintain public debate for the scientific process, content on vaccine policies, new vaccine trials and historical vaccine successes or failures will be allowed on YouTube. I also know allow personal testimonials related to vaccines, as long as the video does not violate other Community Guidelines, “or that the channel does not show a promotion of doubts about vaccines.”