YouTube tests “notes” feature to combat misinformation in videos

What's new: YouTube announced on June 17, 2024, the release of an experimental “notes” feature for its videos to provide context and address the issue of altered or synthetic content on the platform. The notes can also help clarify whether a song video or similar clip is intended as a parody, or let viewers know when older footage is being misrepresented as current.

“The pilot will be available in the US and in English on mobile. During this testing phase, we expect there will be errors – notes that don't fit well with the video or potentially incorrect information,” the platform said in a blog post.

Contributors are encouraged to write notes and rate: The platform will initially invite a limited number of eligible contributors to write the notes via email or Creator Studio notification. According to the blog, participation criteria includes having an active YouTube channel that complies with our community guidelines.

External reviewers for evaluating grades: In the initial phase of the experiment, external reviewers will evaluate the usefulness of the notes to train the platform's systems. “These external reviewers are the same people who provide feedback on YouTube's search results and recommendations. As the pilot progresses, we will look to have the notes evaluated by the contributors themselves as well,” the blog says.

How does the grading process work?

In the US, over the next few weeks, notes will be publicly displayed under a video when the information is found to be helpful. Users will be asked to rate a note as “helpful,” “somewhat helpful,” or “not helpful,” and to indicate the reason for the rating. For example, is the information helpful because it clears up a doubt or verifies the truth of certain information? If a lot of people rate a note as helpful, the YouTube system is more likely to display that note under a video.

YouTube Notes are likely to face similar challenges as Community Notes:

Readers may recall that the microblogging platform X (formerly Twitter) Community Notes for its Indian users in April 2024. The feature was also working on a mechanism to invite contributors and rate notes based on their “helpfulness” or popularity. However, as mentioned earlier, it doesn’t take much for a mechanism like Notes or Community Notes to be weaponized by the IT cells in India. A person could post a disturbing note and have the rest of the troll community spread it to create confusion.

While the feature is not yet available in India, Notes is being released in the US, where the election campaign is underway. So while Notes can be useful for sparking public discourse, it can easily fall flat when the facts are unclear.

Also read: