YouTube announced Wednesday that starting this week it will display a new section called “Personal Stories” in search results when users enter health-related queries. The company said that when people search for videos about certain health conditions on YouTube, it will display a panel that includes videos from people who have been diagnosed with those disorders.
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The company said it noticed that many people were coming to the platform to understand complex things in an easy-to-digest way – like human biology or complex diseases.
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YouTube said that at launch, the Personal Stories section will feature videos related to cancer and mental health conditions like anxiety and depression. The company will later expand this feature to cover other topics and regions outside the US.
“To appear, these videos must primarily focus on a personal, authentic life experience related to a specific physical or mental health condition. Content that is promotional in nature is not appropriate for this feature, and all videos appearing in this feature must comply with our policies that prevent the spread of health misinformation , ” the company said in its post.
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While this feature is not intended to provide medical advice, YouTube has faced a lot of criticism for health-related misinformation — especially during the COVID -19 pandemic . Earlier this year, more than 80 fact-checkers around the world wrote to YouTube about taking stricter action against videos related to COVID-19 misinformation. YouTube will no doubt be scrutinized for the videos that appear in this new “Personal Stories” section and how well they can moderate the content that is featured .
Information source: techcrunch.com
