YouTube is testing out a new feature that is similar to Twitter's community notes. This is good, because YouTubers love to lie.

You know how when you open a YouTube video, the guy in the thumbnail says something that is obviously false within the first 2 minutes? Google will soon allow users to submit a "note" in the style of Twitter under these videos, providing valuable context or corrections.

YouTube's experimental notes are written by users just like Twitter Community Notes. However, there is one important difference: Google uses "third-party evaluators," who rate the usefulness of notes, and decide if they will appear under a particular video. If the feature is expanded, contributors will be able to rate the notes. The company announced this feature on its YouTube blog in June but has only just invited people to test it.

As you can see from the mockup, approved notes are displayed prominently under the title of videos. They will appear in a blue box that can be expanded to read the entire thing. Google sent testers an email inviting them to send notes on "videos that you find unclear or inaccurate." The email also stated that the notes should be written in their own words and not copied directly from sources. They should also add clarity or useful context for videos. (*cough* chatGPT *cough*

Sounds like a decent idea. Community Notes is one of the few positive updates to Twitter in the last few years. While they are sometimes abused, by overzealous fact-checkers stretching the definition of "fact checking," they are generally successful in calling out when an widely-shared tweet is blatantly incorrect.

I'd like to see the same happen on YouTube, the misinformation capital of internet. There, algorithms promote creators that are climate deniers and conspiracy theorists or who brazenly mislead their viewers with fake thumbnails and titles. Google could change its algorithm so that and not are used to elevate charlatans. But this is not part of their business plan. It's better to put the burden of proof on the users, and look like Google is fighting the misinformation that it promoted.

Check your email if you're interested in becoming a YouTube notes writer. You might receive an invitation to join the waiting list.