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| YouTube is becoming a new hub for misinformation in Korea. / Reuters |
By Jung Min-ho
"Samsung is behind the recent #MeToo allegations brought up against comedian Kim Saeng-min," is one of many fake stories ― or "news" ― on YouTube, but the video-sharing website has taken no action to resolve the issue here.
From political conspiracies to false scientific knowledge, YouTube is becoming home to fake news and wrong information about almost everything. And naive teenagers are not the only consumers of such information.
After An Hee-jung offered to resign as South Chungcheong Province governor over rape accusations a month ago, Hong Joon-pyo, leader of the main opposition Liberty Korea Party, said he heard that presidential chief of staff Im Jong-seok "plotted" to remove his political rival ― fake news that was then being widely shared among conservative voters.
Video clips about the fake plot can still be found on YouTube.
So far, neither the Korean government nor the American company has tackled the problem properly. Given that more people here use YouTube as a search engine for everything, this could seriously hinder them from getting the right information ― a precondition for a healthy democracy.
As people who upload videos on YouTube make money from ads based on the number of clicks, their content tends to be sensational. Some stories are exaggerated versions of actual events, but others are just false. And unlike media companies, they don't take responsibility for what they show.
The Korea Communications Standards Commission, which oversees broadcast content, said it cannot regulate fake news on YouTube because there is no legal ground.
Amid growing pressure to solve the problem, the executives of leading Korean IT companies, scholars, lawyers and leaders of various civic groups plan to launch the Korea Internet Self-governance Organization next month to curtail fake news on new media here. It is not clear whether YouTube will join the effort.
Meanwhile, YouTube said it is trying to come up with ideas to deal with such hoaxes in the United States. Last month, CEO Susan Wojcicki said YouTube will use "information cues" as a means of fighting fake news. These cues will appear in a text box that will link to third-party websites, such as Wikipedia, where users can read more about the YouTube videos they are watching. But the effect of such measures may be limited to English content.
The government said Korea Communications Commission, the nation's media regulator, will send a representative to YouTube's headquarters in California to discuss the issue.
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