People walk past a YouTube advertising billboard in Berlin, Germany, on September 27, 2019.
Sean Gallup | fake images
YouTube is taking steps to fight medical misinformation, especially when it comes to finding immediate advice on how to handle an emergency.
The company on Wednesday introduced a feature called First Aid Information Shelves, a library of step-by-step videos that show people what to do if they are witnessing a drug overdose, heart attack or other life-threatening event.
Videos from reputable health organizations like Mass General Brigham will appear pinned to the top of relevant search results so they're easy to discover. YouTube users in the US can find videos on 12 topics, including CPR, seizures, choking, bleeding and psychosis. Most last a minute or two.
“The idea is to be timely and concise and try to share that information as quickly as possible,” Garth Graham, YouTube's global head of healthcare and public health, told CNBC in an interview. Graham said people should always call first responders immediately in the event of an emergency.
The videos will not contain ads, which means GoogleYouTube, which is owned by YouTube, will not make money from them, Graham said.
YouTube was not involved in the creation of content, which Graham said was left in the hands of experts. In addition to Mass General Brigham, health organizations such as the Mexican Red Cross and the American Heart Association have partnered with YouTube to help make the videos.
Content moderation has long been a challenge for YouTube, which removes videos if they are found to violate the company's guidelines. The process is usually slow and expensive. Medical misinformation became a major problem during the Covid-19 pandemic due to the constant spread of inaccurate messages related to the effectiveness of vaccines and masks.
In July 2021, more than a year into the pandemic, YouTube announced plans to label videos and promote credible sources after facing criticism for its role in spreading misinformation. The company banned several high-profile anti-vaccine accounts and said in September of that year that it had removed more than 130,000 videos for violating its Covid policies.
Even as the pandemic has subsided, medical misinformation continues to proliferate. Researchers recently found that popular YouTube videos about insomnia and sleep contain “misinformation and marketing bias,” according to a study published in the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine.
YouTube announced a new framework to combat medical misinformation in August, outlining how the site will remove content that contradicts guidelines set by health officials on topics such as cancer, Covid and reproductive health.
An example of what first aid information shelves will look like on YouTube.
'First videos you see'
Mass General Brigham, Massachusetts' largest health care system, began officially partnering with YouTube in 2021 “to offer patients easier access to credible medical information,” according to a press release at the time.
The hospital has a dedicated content team with expertise in medical education that determines the topics and content of the videos, said Dr. Merranda Logan, associate chief academic officer for the health system.
For YouTube's first aid information shelves, General Brigham's team produced 11 videos on topics such as heart attacks, strokes and seizures.
Logan said there is a lot of medical information and misinformation online and distinguishing between the two can be a challenge. He said people should be able to turn to trusted experts in an emergency when “every minute, every second counts.”
“We wanted to make sure that these videos are the first ones you see when you're on YouTube and you search for any of those topics,” Logan said in an interview. “These videos are really not intended to replace calling 911, but rather to provide clear and concise information that can help during an emergency.”
When searching for videos about CPR, users will find content from the AHA, which writes guidelines on the procedure and, since the 1990s, has worked to educate people about how to handle emergency situations.
“We are keen to partner with our search engines to understand where people go for content to ensure they are getting scientifically accurate content,” said Dr. Comilla Sasson, vice president of healthcare business at the AHA. Solutions for emergency cardiovascular care.
The videos will initially be available in English and Spanish, thanks to the help of the Mexican Red Cross, Graham said. Mass General Brigham is also using one of YouTube's AI-powered translation tools to present content in Spanish.
YouTube plans to add more topics, countries, and languages in the future.
Graham said YouTube will regularly work with its partners to ensure videos remain as accurate and up-to-date as possible. The shelves are part of a “continuing evolution of information quality” on YouTube, he said.
“It is important that we are all prepared to respond to a number of common medical conditions that could happen to us, our family, our loved ones and people passing by,” Graham said. “We should be aware of that.”
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