YouTube labeling videos from ‘accredited hospitals’ and showing ‘from health sources’ carousel

Abner Li | Jul 19 2021 - 12:14 pm PT

At the start of this year, Google said it was partnering with institutions to use YouTube’s scale to widely surface trusted health videos. This is now manifesting as an “accredited hospitals” label on authoritative YouTube videos.

On mobile, a new “From an accredited hospital” box will appear between the video name and YouTube actions (un/like, share, etc.) row. Tapping will let you “learn how experts define health sources in a journal of the National Academy of Medicine.” The nonprofit, nongovernmental organization in question developed the principles YouTube is using.

This is similar to how YouTube labels conspiracy theories and other news events, with Google wanting to “help viewers identify videos from authoritative sources.”

These context cues are aimed at helping people more easily navigate and evaluate credible health information. People will still be able to find relevant videos from a range of sources in their search results.

In search results, YouTube is also surfacing a “From health sources” carousel at the top of the screen for certain queries. The shelves are meant to “more effectively highlight videos from these sources,” which also includes “government entities.”

This is our first step towards identifying and designating authoritative health sources on YouTube. While only accredited health organizations and government entities are currently included in our health context features, we’re exploring ways to broaden eligibility and evaluate inclusion of other health sources, as well as ways to expand these features globally.