YouTube to remove videos promoting ‘harmful or ineffective’ cancer treatments

YouTube decided to take concrete action to put an end to medical misinformation. The platform announced that from today remove videos promoting “harmful or ineffective” cancer treatmentsor what discourages patients from consulting specialist doctors.

Videos promoting cancer treatments that have not been proven effective will be removed. Or that they may directly be counterproductive to the health of patients. Among the content that will be removed, YouTube mentions as examples those that provide that garlic cures canceror what vitamin C is better than radiation therapy.

In any case, the platform clarifies that certain videos that may contain incorrect references to the disease will not be removed. At least for now. These are cases of personal feedback about cancer treatment or disputes about the results of certain oncological procedures. The same will happen in cases where the public interest prevails; for example, when a political candidate in a campaign makes comments contrary to the guidelines of the health authorities.

It is worth saying that although these latest videos have not been deleted, YouTube plans to take additional steps to limit your visibility. In this sense, it indicates the possibility of prohibiting their viewing by users under a certain age, or adding a contextual panel next to the player with additional information.

YouTube counters videos promising magic cures for cancer

YouTube’s decision to oppose videos offering magical cures for cancer is no coincidence. The platform announced new rules against medical misinformation, grouping dozens of guidelines across just three categories. They are: disinformation prevention, disinformation handling and debunking disinformation.

The first corresponds to the removal of content that is contrary to the provisions of the public health authorities on the prevention or transmission of certain diseases. For example, anti-vaccination videos. The second category will apply to the removal of posts that suggest medicines and treatments for illnesses that are ineffective or harmful. But it will not be limited to this; the same will happen to those who promote them as substitutes for proven medical procedures. Meanwhile, the third is designed to process videos that deny the presence of certain diseases. For example, those who still doubt the death of people from COVID-19.

New YouTube policies will come into effect if cases are found in the following parameters:

• They are associated with situations of high risk to public health.
• They are contrary to the guidelines set by the World Health Organization and other global health bodies.
• They are related to topics that may be the subject of false or malicious content.

That’s why they started this new journey by focusing on content related to cancer treatment. “The public health risk is high as cancer is one of the leading causes of death worldwide. There is a strong consensus on safe cancer treatments from local and global health authorities; and it’s prone to disinformation,” they pointed out from the Google-owned platform.

New measures against disinformation

YouTube ensures that its restructuring and unification of the criteria to combat disinformation aims to establish a policy that lasts over time. Of course, this is not the first time that the service has taken drastic measures to solve this problem.

In 2020, it banned videos with false information about COVID-19 vaccines, and in 2021 expanded the measure to content about all types of vaccines. And late last year, it began certifying publications by doctors, nurses, psychologists, and other professionals to make it easier to access trusted health and wellness content.

In the case of cancer treatment, YouTube will not simply remove content that it deems false or harmful.. The platform will also share a playlist of quality videos from trusted sources and publish new content in collaboration with the renowned Mayo Clinic in the United States.