YouTube moves to bolster credible health content

Dr. Garth Graham. Photo: Fernando Leon/Getty Images for YouTube.

To that end, YouTube has tapped guidance from the National Academy of Medicine and recent principles it released focused on combating misinformation.

“They pulled together a panel of experts to inform this overall thought pattern – what’s authoritative, what’s credible,” Graham explained. “The next phase of this for us will be applying this concept to individual creators outside of institutions.”

Indeed, the YouTube rollout will rely on partnerships with hospitals and health organizations like the Cleveland Clinic, Mass General Brigham and the American Public Health Association. Content from credible sources, such as state health departments, public health schools and medical journals, will be clearly labeled as such. Meanwhile, information focused on major health conditions will be organized on a content shelf.

“The overall idea is to give people a place, cues and concepts that we know that can drive them to find trusted information and to feel a little more confident that information is coming from a source that is credited or reliable,” Graham said.

Not surprisingly, Graham characterized the pandemic as a major motivating factor. He pointed out that terms (“messenger RNA”) and phrases (“flattening the curve,” “vectors for transmission”) have become more commonly used outside of their usual public-health context during the last year and a half.

“That’s a big part of this effort – this idea of how to take complicated public health information and deliver it in digestible, understandable ways,” Graham said. “The idea is to inspire the world to think through how we reach people. We certainly encourage researchers and folks working in media, marketing and communications to get out credible health information.”

This story first appeared on MM+M.