Fact checkers say YouTube lets its platform be ‘weaponized’

SAN FRANCISCO

More than 80 fact checking organizations are calling on YouTube to address what they say is rampant misinformation on the platform. A letter to CEO Susan Wojcicki published Wednesday calls the Google-owned platform one of the major conduits of online disinformation and misinformation worldwide. The fact checkers say YouTube’s efforts to address the issue have been insufficient. They are all members of the International Fact Checking Network and include Rappler in the Philippines, Africa Check, Science Feedback in France and dozens of others. They said YouTube wrongly frames discussions about disinformation as a false dichotomy of deleting or not deleting content.