YouTube added 9/11 conspiracy theory tags to Notre Dame videos
YouTube has been directing viewers of videos showing the devastating Notre Dame fire to fact-boxes debunking conspiracy theories about the September 2001 terror attacks on the Twin Towers.
Links to an Encyclopedia Britannica article giving the history of the New York 9/11 attacks appeared prominently under videos from news channels CBS, NBC News and France 24.
The links are part of YouTube’s effort to confront the deluge of conspiracy theories on the video sharing website.
YouTube began adding fact boxes that appear under videos of conspiracy theories such as that the 9/11 attacks were committed by the US government, that the Earth is flat or that the moon landings were faked.
But its algorithm appeared to identify videos showing the burning spire of the Paris Cathedral as being videos of the terror attack.
YouTube introduced these “knowledge panels” in 2018 in the wake of criticism of the video service’s role in spreading misinformation.
YouTube later disabled the panels on videos showing the Notre Dame fire.
The cause of the fire, which broke out late on Monday afternoon and was not extinguished until 3am, remains unclear. The fire destroyed the spire and much of the roof and interior of the 850-year-old cathedral.
On Tuesday, French prosecutors said the fire was being treated as “involuntary”.
A YouTube spokesman said: “We are deeply saddened by the ongoing fire at the Notre Dame cathedral. Last year, we launched information panels with links to third-party sources like Encyclopaedia Britannica and Wikipedia for subjects subject to misinformation.
“These panels are triggered algorithmically and our systems sometimes make the wrong call. We are disabling these panels for live streams related to the fire.”
