“Coronavirus EXPLAINED”: YouTube, COVID-19, and the Socio-Technical Mediation of Expertise

Since the coronavirus outbreak, YouTube has altered its content moderation policies to surface more “authoritative information” while removing videos that contain “medically unsubstantiated claims.” This was made urgent by incidents like a live-stream interview of renowned British conspiracy theorist David Icke—in which he falsely linked the spread of the coronavirus to 5G technology—that gained substantial traction online. Behind these events, however, lies a tension between the need for authoritative medical information and the socio-technical mediation that enables multiple, competing voices to lay claim to such authority on YouTube; a tension exacerbated by the current pandemic. Following an investigation into the sources and types of video content average users were likely to see when searching for information about the coronavirus on the site, we suggest that through its incentive structure and participatory affordances, YouTube may have subordinated expertise to a logic of likability—leaving institutional experts trailing behind.