Surely, there are various different things that come together to make human beings the most dominant species to ever walk the earth, but none of them really help us as much as our ability to find solutions on a consistent basis. You see, when a person can find a way through any situation, they eventually guide themselves towards some huge milestones. This is wholly proven by whatever we have achieved so far, with one strong piece of evidence emerging from a creation called technology. The reason why we give technology its separate space in these discussions is because of how it revolutionized so many horizons at once, therefore inspiring a whole new identity on our part. Now, while the said new identity would right away raise our floor across the board, it will end up producing certain challenges as well. YouTube’s latest move notably looks to solve one such challenge.
YouTube has officially announced a plan to crack down on videos that contain false information regarding abortion. This includes “instructions for unsafe abortion methods” or content that “promotes false claims about abortion safety.” Beyond that, the tech giant is also introducing a dedicated information panel that will pull abortion-related facts from the National Library of Medicine to educate viewers about the subject in a reliable manner. Interestingly enough, it’s a similar approach to what YouTube did to solve the issue of rampant misinformation around Covid 19 vaccine, but this one seemingly has much deeper roots than the previous campaign. To contextualize the statement, you only have to look at how YouTube’s parent company, Google has come under pressure, as of late, for directing abortion-seekers to fake clinics. Having said that, though, the decision in question here talks more to videos promoting self-managed abortions. These abortions are usually done with the help of herbs like mugwort and pennyroyal, a methodology that many believe can go on to cause serious health problems.
“Like all of our policies on health/medical topics, we rely on published guidance from health authorities. We prioritize connecting people to content from authoritative sources on health topics, and we continuously review our policies & products as real world events unfold.” It linked to an explanation of its misinformation policies that proscribed “promotion of alternative abortion methods in place of chemical or surgical methods deemed safe by health authorities,” the company stated.
YouTube’s stringent stance against abortion misinformation adds another ripple effect to the controversial reversal of Roe V. Wade, but how it is implemented and maintained is something that still remains to be seen.