The companies are grappling with stopping the spread of a 26-minute video that includes coronavirus conspiracy theories.
Coronavirus conspiracy theories continue to spread on Facebook and other social networks.
Facebook, YouTube and other social networks are struggling to remove a viral video that includes various conspiracy theories about the coronavirus pandemic, highlighting the challenges that come with moderating dangerous content online.
The nearly 26-minute video is part of a series of clips being released ahead of a documentary called Plandemic that the filmmakers say "will expose the scientific and political elite who run the scam that is our global health system." It includes claims that have been debunked and makes other allegations without evidence.
Facebook, Twitter and Google-owned YouTube are taking steps to remove the video or reduce its spread, the companies said. But despite these efforts, Plandemic videos continue to pop up. Some Facebook users were sharing the video in public groups but linking to other sites that aren't as well known as YouTube, or to the documentary's website.
Two simple searches on YouTube on Friday morning found nine copies of the video, with a combined 295,000 views. After CNET contacted YouTube with links to the copies, all but one were removed for violating community guidelines.
Of the nine copies, the one that remained up is a reaction video, underscoring the complications platforms like YouTube face moderating posts that contain conspiracy theories. YouTube's policies allow some videos citing conspiracy theories to remain up if the purpose of the clips is to debunk misinformation. But this reaction video replays the Plandemic video virtually in full, adding commentary that fails to clearly debunk the claims. However, at 42 minutes long, verifying that this kind of video violates YouTube's policies is more nuanced than simply identifying a cut-and-dried copy.
The original video features Judy Mikovits, a controversial former medical researcher who repeats conspiracy theories about the coronavirus pandemic, including the idea wearing a mask could make you sick because it could expose you to your own "reactivated coronavirus expressions." Mikovits' comments conflict with advice from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which says everyone should wear a face cover to protect others in case you're infected with the virus that causes COVID-19.
Check for more detail:- https://www.cnet.com/news/facebook-youtube-twitter-viral-plandemic-conspiracy-video/Facebook, YouTube, Twitter struggle to remove ‘Plandemic’ videos
The video on Facebook received more than 1.7 million views as of Thursday and been shared more than 140,000 times.
The video on Facebook received more than 1.7 million views as of Thursday.(Reuters)
Social media platforms like Facebook, YouTube and Twitter are finding it difficult to remove a coronavirus conspiracy video called Plandemic that has spread faster that the virus and can still be accessed on these platforms.
The 26-minute video features a famous vaccine conspiracist who defy the advice of medical experts like saying that “sheltering in place harms consumers’ immune systems and that masks can make people sicker”.
“The video tries to argue that the coronavirus pandemic was created to make profits off vaccines,” reports CNBC.
The video features Judy Mikovits, a figure best known for her anti-vaccine activism in recent years.
The video on Facebook received more than 1.7 million views as of Thursday and been shared more than 140,000 times.
One of the YouTube videos had received more than 1 million views before it was removed, according to the MIT Technology Review.
According to Twitter, “tweets by Mikovits apparently don’t violate the platform’s rules around COVID-19 misinformation, but it has marked the video’s URL as “unsafe” and blocked the related hashtags.
Check for more detail:- https://www.hindustantimes.com/tech/facebook-youtube-twitter-struggle-to-remove-plandemic-videos/story-qP38KuZOqUuQD1RxDoMYmJ.html
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