WASHINGTON (Aug. 17, 2022) – On Tuesday YouTube announced they are updating their policies on videos that promote medical misinformation and would immediately begin removing content that violates the new rules. YouTube’s updated medical misinformation policy says it will not “allow content that poses a serious risk of egregious harm by spreading medical misinformation that contradicts local health authorities’ or the World Health Organization’s guidance about specific health conditions and substances.” Types of medical misinformation includes content that denies the existence of COVID, promotes cancer treatments proven to be harmful or ineffective or discourages viewers from seeking professional medical treatment.
Lorien Abroms is a professor of Prevention and Community Health at the Milken Institute School of Public Health at the George Washington University, as well as the public health and governance lead at the GW Institute for Data Democracy and Politics. Her work focuses on the application of digital communication technologies for health promotion.
In response to YouTube’s announcement Abroms said:
“I strongly support YouTube's new medical misinformation policy. Health misinformation has been shown to proliferate on its platform. By taking down misinformation such as videos about false cancer cures, the new policy will ensure that people seeking out health information will find information that is more likely to be evidence-based. As such, the new policy will make its platform more health promoting and not mislead people with promises about false cures.”
To schedule an interview with Lorien Abroms, please contact Rachel Larris at [email protected].