ACP partners with YouTube to combat COVID-19 misinformation
The ACP announced that it is working with YouTube to develop messages to counteract misinformation about COVID-19, its treatment and vaccines.
Through a series of videos, ACP will provide physicians with resources to evaluate and address misinformation and share evidence-based strategies for offering “credible information about vaccines,” according to a press release. These videos will be available in English and Spanish.
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ACP President George M. Abraham, MD, MPH, MACP, said in the release that “the spread of health misinformation continues to be a serious threat to the public health.”
“The best tool to stop the spread of the COVID-19 virus and its variants is to build trust in the use of science, based on the best available evidence,” he said.
A recent analysis suggests that YouTube videos often lack quality health care-related information. For the study, researchers rated 32 YouTube videos with the word “vaccine” in the closed captions (which collectively had more than 139 million views at the time of analysis) for quality, accuracy and reliability. The researchers reported that most of the videos received low scores, “with network news sources receiving the lowest scores overall.”
The spread of COVID-19 misinformation has prompted medical organizations like WHO and AMA, in addition to ACP, to take measures to clamp down on it. Specifically, WHO published a guide to help organizations create workforces that can bring the “infodemic” under control. AMA, according to a press release, wrote to the CEOs of Amazon, Facebook, Google, Pinterest, Twitter and YouTube “urging them to them to ensure their users have access to accurate, timely, scientifically-sound information on vaccines.”
Garth Graham, MD, an ACP fellow and YouTube’s director and global head of health care and public health partnerships, helped establish the new collaboration between the organizations. He said it has great potential.
“I believe in the power of the ACP to bring these important messages about vaccines to life for physicians, patients and caregivers,” Graham said in the press release. “I know how much the physician’s voice matters to patients when they are making decisions about their health care.”
References
American College of Physicians partnering with YouTube on educational content to counter misinformation around COVID-19 treatment and vaccines. https://www.acponline.org/acp-newsroom/american-college-of-physicians-partnering-with-youtube-on-educational-content-to-counter. Published Oct. 13, 2021. Accessed Oct. 14, 2021.
AMA urges tech giants to combat vaccine misinformation. https://www.ama-assn.org/press-center/press-releases/ama-urges-tech-giants-combat-vaccine-misinformation. Published March 13, 2019. Accessed Oct. 14, 2021.
Marwah HK, et al. Disaster Med Public Health Prep. 2021;doi:10.1017/dmp.2021.284.
WHO competency framework: Building a response workforce to manage infodemics. https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789240035287. Published Sept. 15, 2021. Accessed Oct. 14, 2021.