YouTube is now testing a new community-sourced fact-checking tool that allows users to provide contextual notes on videos uploaded to the platform.
In a new blog post, YouTube explains that this new feature, Notes, will allow viewers to add information that clarifies a video. Some examples would be if someone is using older footage to portray something as a current event, if a video is actually a parody, or if a product being discussed in a video already has an updated version.
YouTube explains that Notes on a video will be displayed “if they’re found to be broadly helpful.” As shown in the image below, the Note will be displayed in a small popup box below the video’s views and uploaded date. Viewers of a video with a Note displayed will be asked if they found the Note helpful, somewhat helpful, or “Unhelpful and explain why.”
“A bridging-based algorithm helps identify notes that are helpful to a broad audience across perspectives,” YouTube wrote in the blog post. “If many people who have rated notes differently in the past now rate the same Note as helpful, then our system is more likely to show that Note under a video. These systems will continuously improve as more notes are written and rated across a broad range of topics.”
YouTube Notes sounds a lot like X/Twitter’s Community Notes feature, where it is outsourcing its users to generate fact-checking on posts. Like X/Twitter, YouTube explains that it has limited the pilot to several “eligible contributors” who will be invited by email or a Creator Studio notification to test the feature.
This is part of YouTube’s growing list of products, which it has rolled out to provide additional context for uploaded videos. Other products include adding information about the COVID-19 vaccines in its information panels and new rules that require creators to disclose if their YouTube video was created using AI.
The YouTube Notes pilot is only available in English to eligible YouTube viewers based in the United States.
Taylor is a Reporter at IGN. You can follow her on Twitter @TayNixster.