Alliance for Pandemic Preparedness

May 14, 2020

YouTube as a Source of Medical Information on the Novel Coronavirus 2019 Disease (COVID-19) Pandemic

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  • D’Souza et al. reviewed the medical content of the 113 most-widely viewed YouTube videos on COVID-19. They found 70% of videos were useful and 9% were misleading. Of the videos classified as useful, 72% were posted by news agencies and 22% were posted by individuals. Of the misleading videos, 60% were posted by individuals and 40% were posted by news agencies. Useful videos were more likely to present information on prevalence, medical outcomes or prognosis.  
  • The World Health Organization contributed one useful video and none of the videos were posted by the Center for Disease Control. These findings highlight the need for increased information disseminate from reputable sources on YouTube and other social media platforms. 

D’Souza et al. (May 12, 2020). YouTube as a Source of Medical Information on the Novel Coronavirus 2019 Disease (COVID-19) Pandemic. Global Public Health. https://doi.org/10.1080/17441692.2020.1761426