A BBC investigation has revealed that YouTubes algorithm is promoting fake cancer cures in a number of languages, and found major brands running ads on the site alongside them. 

The BBC searched YouTube across 10 languages, and found more than 80 videos containing false information about health, primarily bogus cancer cures. 10 of the videos had each garnered more than 1m views, and many of them appeared alongside ads for brands including Booking.com, Clinique, Grammarly, Heinz and Samsung, as well as a number of British universities.

When the BBC team searched in Russian for “cancer treatment”, it was presented with videos advocating drinking baking soda. Because of the way YouTube’s algorithm works, anyone watching one of these fake videos would then most likely be presented with recommendations for others, as the BBC team found.

When confronted with the evidence by the BBC, Samsung said the campaign it was running had “no connection or correlation” with the fake cancer cure video which after it, while Kraft Heinz told the BBC that it has a number of automated and human controls continuously in place to ensure its ads do no run alongside inappropriate content, adding: “This particular instance is concerning to us and we have taken steps to block this channel.”

Grammarly’s ads appeared 20 times alongside fake cancer cure videos views. It told the BBC: “Upon learning of this, we immediately contacted YouTube to pull our ads from any such channels and to ensure the ads will not appear alongside content promulgating misinformation.”

Footnote:
Since we posted this story, YouTube has issued a statement, which says:

“Misinformation is a difficult challenge, and we have taken a number of steps to address this including showing more authoritative content on medical issues, showing information panels with credible sources, and removing ads from videos that promote harmful health claims. Our systems are not perfect but currently, the majority of the searches about cancer cures are pointing users to authoritative sources. Were constantly making improvements, and we remain committed to progress in this space”. 

It adds that videos that promote or advocate for harmful health claims, such as miracle cures for cancer, are a violation of its ads policies, and as such, it has removed ads from these videos.