You know when you fire up a YouTube video and within the first two minutes the guy from the thumbnail has already said something obviously untrue? Instead of the sole recourse being pumping your fist while writing a corrective comment nobody will ever see, Google will soon let some users submit a Twitter-style “note” under those videos to provide valuable context or corrections.
Just like Twitter Community Notes, YouTube’s experimental notes will be written by users, with one notable difference: During this pilot program, Google is using “third-party evaluators” to rate the helpfulness of notes and ultimately determine if they appear under a video. Contributors will eventually be able to rate notes if the feature is expanded. The company announced the feature on the YouTube blog in June, but is only now getting around to inviting people to try it out.
As you can see in the mockup above, approved notes will be prominently displayed under the title of videos in a blue box and can be expanded like a comment to read the whole thing. In an email sent to testers, Google invites them to submit notes on “videos you find inaccurate or unclear,” but adds that “notes should always be in your own words, not copied text directly from sources, and they should add clarity or useful context to videos.” (*cough* ChatGPT *cough*)
Sounds like a decent idea. Community Notes has proved one of the few positive changes to Twitter over the last few years, and while those notes are sometimes abused by overzealous watch dogs stretching the definition of a “fact check,” they’re generally successful at calling out when a widely-shared post is blatantly wrong.
I’d love to see the same thing happen for YouTube: the misinformation capital of the internet where algorithms regularly promote creators who platform conspiracy theorists and climate deniers, or brazenly mislead viewers with fictional thumbnails and titles that don’t represent the content within. Of course, Google could also change its algorithm to not elevate charlatans, but that’s not really part of its business plan. Better to put the burden on users and come out looking like it’s fighting the misinformation it promoted.
If you’re a prospective notes writer eager to make YouTube less annoying, check your inbox; you might have an invite to join the waitlist.