YouTube tests letting viewers fact-check videos with notes 

YouTube is testing letting viewers leave “helpful notes” on videos that “provide relevant, timely, and easy-to-understand context.”

Compared to comments, notes appear in a much more elevated section in-between the video title and channel name. This “Viewers added a note” card is given similar prominence to existing information panels. 

This fact-checking system could be used to “clarify when a song is meant to be a parody, point out when a new version of a product being reviewed is available, or let viewers know when older footage is mistakenly portrayed as a current event.” It joins a broader notes capability in Google Search Labs.

YouTube is inviting a “limited number of eligible contributors” that can create notes, which are anonymous and not associated with the writer’s channel. Be on the lookout for an email or Creator Studio notification if you have an “active YouTube channel in good standing with our Community Guidelines.”

Notes can include timestamps and links, with a tap expanding the sheet. For this pilot program, YouTube is using third-party evaluators to “rate the helpfulness of notes, which will help train our systems.”

These third-party evaluators are the same people who provide feedback on YouTube’s search results and recommendations. As the pilot moves forward, we’ll look to have contributors themselves rate notes as well.

Notes will begin appearing on videos “in the coming weeks and months” for viewers in the US ” if they’re found to be broadly helpful.” 

• “People will be asked whether they think a note is “helpful,” “somewhat helpful,” or “unhelpful” and why – for example, whether it cites high-quality sources or is written clearly and neutrally.”
• “A bridging-based algorithm helps identify notes that are helpful to a broad audience across perspectives. If many people who have rated notes differently in the past now rate the same note as helpful, then our system is more likely to show that note under a video. These systems will continuously improve as more notes are written and rated across a broad range of topics.”

YouTube will take into account feedback before expanding the notes feature. More informational is available here.