YouTube to invest $25mn in countering fake news

San Francisco, July 10 (IANS) Video sharing platform YouTube has announced that it will invest $25 million to fight against fake news, especially for the urgent coverage of breaking news.

YouTube, which is owned by Google, said on Monday that this investment will be part of the Google News Initiative (GNI), first introduced in March by the tech giant to help the media and to deal with fake news, reports Efe news.

In addition, YouTube presented a series of new features on its website to help users avoid hoaxes.

Beginning in the coming weeks, when YouTube users in the US search for videos on breaking news, they will see short excerpts of the news as well as the links to different media.

In addition, YouTube will provide links to Wikipedia or the Encyclopedia Britannica with controversial videos or conspiratorial issues, such as the Moon landing.

"We remain committed to working with the journalism community to build a more sustainable video ecosystem for news organizations," said YouTube Chief Product Officer Neal Mohan and YouTube’s Chief Business Officer, Robert Kyncl.

The two admitted that "there is a lot of work to do", but underlined that they will try to "provide a better experience to users who come to YouTube every day to learn more about what is happening in the world from a diversity of sources".