Information panels give more context to videos across YouTube. You'll notice different types of info from third-party sources, like links to fact check in search results. We give you this context to help you make your own informed decisions about videos that you watch on YouTube.
When you search YouTube for something related to a specific claim, sometimes you'll notice an information panel. These panels include a fact check from an independent third-party publisher. The info here tells you whether your related claims are true, false or something else like 'partly true', according to the publisher's fact check.
Information panels are only available in a limited number of countries/regions and languages. We're working to bring information panels to more countries/regions.
What fact checks look like on YouTube
If a publisher has fact-checked something specific to your search, you'll notice an information panel marked as an 'independent fact check' with:
- The name of the publisher doing the fact check
- The claim being fact-checked
- A snippet of the publisher's fact check finding
- A link to the publisher's article to learn more
- Info about the publication date of the fact check article
When there are related fact checks from a few publishers, you'll notice a few results.
If you don't see a fact check
Fact checks don't surface for every search. There are several factors that influence whether a fact check appears. Mainly, if the search terms are clearly seeking info about the accuracy of a claim. We also consider the relevance and recency of the fact check in relation to the search terms.
If a fact check doesn't appear, it may be because an eligible publisher hasn't published a fact check article relevant to your search. YouTube doesn't give editorial direction on fact check articles or rating systems that are shown in the information panels.
Feedback on fact checks
YouTube doesn't endorse or create any of the fact checks that are shown in information panels on YouTube. If you disagree with info in a particular fact check article, get in touch with the owner of the website that published it. If you find a fact check that violates our Community Guidelines, you can send us feedback.
Who publishes fact checks
Fact check articles shown on YouTube utilise publicly available Schema.org ClaimReview markup and publishers are eligible to participate if:
- The publisher is either a verified signatory of the International Fact-Checking Network's code of principles or is an authoritative publisher.
AND
- The publisher's site has several pages marked up with ClaimReview. If you're a publisher, learn more about how to add the structured data to your page.
Publishers and their fact checks are reviewed on an ongoing basis to make sure that:
- Fact check articles are held to YouTube's Community Guidelines.
- Fact check articles are held to ClaimReview structured data guidelines.
- Fact check articles contain distinct claims and clear ratings that are easily found in the body of the article.
- Fact check sources and methods are:
- traceable
- transparent
- have citations and references to primary sources
If an article or publisher doesn't follow these guidelines, the article may not be eligible for a fact check. It's also possible that the publisher may no longer have the ability to show fact checks on YouTube.
How we evaluate authoritativeness
We use various signals to measure authoritativeness, to make sure that only content from established and relevant sources appears in our information panels. We also use external raters to evaluate the expertise and trustworthiness of the content. We go to extraordinary lengths to build our products and enforce our policies. These actions help us make sure that ideological or political leanings aren't factored into the assessment of authoritative sources.