As part of its medical misinformation policy, YouTube announced that it would start deleting false information about cancer treatments.
Under the medical misinformation policy, YouTube will limit any content that mentions that proven cancer treatments are harmful or ineffective. Additionally, limit any content that discourages its viewers from seeking professional medical treatment.
“This includes content that promotes unproven treatments in place of approved care or s a guaranteed cure, and treatments that have been specifically deemed harmful by health authorities,” said Dr Gath Graham, head of YouTube health.
Part of the misinformation being prevented is the growing notion that one can easily take vitamin C instead of going for radiation therapy.
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In addition to false claims about cancer treatments, the medical misinformation policy prohibits false claims about vaccines and abortions as well as content that glorifies eating disorders.
YouTube is issuing a border updated medical misinformation policy framework. It will consider content in three groups: Prevention, Treatment and Denial.
“To determine if a condition, treatment or substance is in scope of our medical misinformation policies, we’ll evaluate whether it’s associated with a high public health risk, publicly available guidance from health authorities around the world, and if it’s generally prone to misinformation,” said Graham.
This therefore means that any content that falls into the parameters above and additionally contradicts the local health authorities and the World Health Organization, will be acted upon.
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How it Affects Cancer Treatments
According to the platform, these parameters are for preservation of the balance of removing harmful content while ensuring space for debate and discussion.
Cancer is a disease that poses a high public health risk and has constantly been under misinformation. Therefore, in order to ensure people, get access to safe cancer treatments both locally and globally, the misinformation needs to be prohibited. This is to ensure that accurate and proper information is available.
The challenge ahead is enforcement of the policies enacted. However, the company has guaranteed that its use of both human and automated moderation will review videos and content posted.
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