Videos with incorrect dates of one's death; misleading news on prime minister, ministers and armed forces; and incorrect information on various issues including education, religion, games, entertainment and disasters are available on the popular video-sharing platform YouTube.
These misinformation videos, which are mostly related to politics, also display ads for various brands and products including locally popular businesses brands, thereby, generating profits for the platform, and when attention is drawn, the platform authorities do not pay heed to the matter in most cases.
Dismisslab, the research unit of private firm Digitally Right which works on the influence of the information ecosystem, said these in a report released on 10 July.
Researchers at Dismisslab analysed 2,042 fact-check articles published between 1 January 2023 and 30 September 2023, on seven fact-checking websites covering Bangladesh including Dismislab, Rumor Scanner, Boom, Newschecker, Fact Crescendo, Fact-Watch, and AFP Fact Check.
They then searched the titles of false or misleading claims from these articles on YouTube to identify corresponding videos between November and December 2023. Researchers found “700 unique misinformation content, already fact-checked by independent fact-checkers, have been alive and thriving on YouTube generating views and engagement till March 2024.” Politics dominates these videos with 25 per cent, followed by religious content (about 15 per cent), sports and disasters.
Researchers at Dismisslab reported on these 700 videos to YouTube and the platform authorities took action absent only 25 videos and the remaining ones are still on it.
Over 200,000 views on average
The report said these videos were posted by 541 YouTube channels and 16.5 per cent (89) of those channels are verified by YouTube. Among the channels analyzed, 64 were found to spread more than one misinformation video.
One such channel ‘Sabai Sikhi posted as many as nine videos with misinformation, and those videos were removed following a report published by Dismislab in March 2024.
About 30 per cent of misinformation videos displayed advertisements from different companies or organisations, averaging more than 224,000 views per video. “Ads of 83 different brands were seen in videos containing false or misleading information, and one-third of those are from foreign companies targeting a Bangladeshi audience,” the report said.
Advertisements of several top local brands from gaming, telecommunications, e-commerce, and consumer goods sectors were displayed on misinformation videos
16.5 per cent of the channels posting these videos were YouTube-verified. It is yet unclear whether content creators earn from these misinformation videos, but it is for sure these videos are generating profit for the platform.
Digitally Right founder Miraz Ahmed Chowdhury told Prothom Alo there should be more discussion on ads protection policy, and those who are posting advertisements on platforms should be more careful and be vocal about where the ads are being displayed.
YouTube’s vague policy
According to German-based online data-gathering platform Statista, there are 37 million YouTube users in Bangladesh as of April 2024, while online reference library DataReportal said ads displayed on YouTube reached 43.04 per cent of online users in Bangladesh in January this year.
YouTube mainly earn from displaying ads, which allows users to monetise videos. At present, various social media and video platforms like YouTube have become major sources of earnings for many people.
Dismisslab said advertisers and experts, interviewed for the study, expressed frustration over ad placements on misinformation content.
YouTube’s role in preventing the spread of misinformation has often come under question
YouTube has long come under criticism for its role in combating misinformation. In a 2022 letter, 80 fact-checking groups said, “YouTube is allowing its platform to be weaponized by unscrupulous actors to manipulate and exploit others and to organize and fundraise themselves. Current measures are proving insufficient.”
A study by the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH) said that YouTube is generating millions of dollars in revenue from ads on channels that spread climate change misinformation. In April, Dismislab also revealed that numerous fake news channels, often verified and spreading false information, are monetised on YouTube, and the platform also generates profit for it.
YouTube maintains an ambiguous monetisation policy. The report said YouTube removed the display of monetisation status in the channel page code on 17 November 2023, limiting the ability of researchers and creators to examine who is allowed into the YouTube Partner Program to monetize content.
“Google, which owns YouTube, claimed in its Video Ad Safety Promise, that it automatically excludes ads from appearing on content with profanity, nudity, terrorism, and other sensitive subjects, although it does not specifically address misinformation or disinformation, nor does it allow advertisers to proactively and directly exclude misinformation content with its Content Exclusion Settings. Advertisers can only see where their ad was placed after it has run on a video or channel and then report or exclude it from the campaign,” the report said.
Other platforms like Facebook and Twitter label misinformation based on user reports or third-party fact-checking organisations. YouTube does not do this widely. Instead, it takes action against certain types of misinformation when they violate their policies, which does not take place in all cases. YouTube’s automated systems also fail to detect a range of misinformation that violates its policies.
The market of YouTube is big, but they show inaction on protection. “This is particularly true for countries like Bangladesh and for non-English languages like Bangla, which are often underrepresented and ignored in the global discourse on ad safety and the monetization of misinformation. The lack of tech accountability organizations, adequate evidence-based research, and academic interest in these areas exacerbate the problem,” the report concluded.
Asked about the role of YouTube in information systems, BM Mainul Hossain, professor at the Institute of Information Technology (IIT), University of Dhaka, told Prothom Alo people are still lagging behind financial literacy in the country. That is why platforms like YouTube should focus more on customer service and monitoring in the countries like Bangladesh. Besides, the government must seek explanations for misinformation videos from YouTube, he added.
This report appeared in the print and online editions of Prothom Alo and has been rewritten in English by Hasanul Banna