YouTube to invest $25m to boost ‘trusted’ news sources

The Google-owned online video service said it would offer funding "across approximately 20 global markets to support news organizations in building sustainable video operations."

The grants "will enable our partners to build key capabilities, train staff on video best practices, enhance production facilities and develop formats optimized for online video," YouTube said in a statement late Monday.

The latest move is part of a $300 million Google News Initiative announced earlier this year by YouTube's parent to help curb manipulation and misinformation, which can spread easily online.

The YouTube effort comes as Google and Facebook -- companies that drew heavy criticism following the 2016 US election for failing to prevent the propagation of false news -- have been taking a series of steps to promote verifiable journalism.

"The work of trusted journalistic organizations is as critical as ever, especially when it comes to seeking information about current events online," YouTube said.

In addition to helping news organizations with video, YouTube said it was stepping up efforts to help its users identify "authoritative" news sources.

"Authoritativeness is essential to viewers, especially during fast-moving, breaking news events, so we've been investing in new product features to prominently surface authoritative sources," the statement said.

Source: AFP