YouTube Tackles Misinformation, Expands Brand Suitability Reporting

In response to the widespread industry threat of misinformation, YouTube has expanded its partnership with third-party measurement company Zefr, which will begin reporting on brand safety and suitability in categories including misinformation across various YouTube social formats.

In a recent statement, Zefr says it will use its AI-powered brand safety and suitability verification solution to report on twelve categories, including misinformation, on YouTube In-Stream and Shorts inventory across multiple campaign formats, including Video Action, Video Reach, Video View, Performance Max, and Demand Gen.

Zefr says it will use industry-standard definitions to determine its detection of misinformation on the popular video-sharing platform.

According to YouTube’s policies, misinformation can take several forms, and includes content aiming to mislead people about ​“the time, place, means, or eligibility requirements of the census” like a post that purposefully misstates when a popular election is held; manipulated content; and misattributed content that falsely claims ​“old footage from a past event is from a current event,” such as some of the viral footage being shared in the early days of the war in Ukraine.

Misinformation is currently a major focal point for advertisers running campaigns across the social-media landscape due to the continual rise and evolution of AI-generated content.

Some experts claim that as much as 90% of online could be AI-generated by 2026, according to Integral Ad Science, another measurement company.

There are also major elections taking place across more than 60 countries in the coming months — including the 2024 U.S. presidential election, which with the increased news coverage they bring, leads to an influx of consumers spending more time online.

“Brands need assurance that their campaigns are not inadvertently appearing next to misinformation,” says Rich Raddon, co-founder and co-CEO of Zefr.

Zefr’s expanded partnership with YouTube follows the measurement company’s recent partnership with TikTok, becoming one of three companies to provide ad partners with post-campaign misinformation data for the content that runs directly before and after their ads in TikTok’s For You Feed.