On Monday, YouTube incorrectly flagged videos about theNotre Dame Cathedral firein Paris as possible sources of misinformation, and began redirecting viewers to content about the9/11 terrorist attacks.
Buzzfeedreportedthat when news outlets began streaming footage of the fire on the video platform, small gray boxes appeared on several of the videos titled “September 11 attacks” alongside a description of the terrorist attack from an Encyclopedia Brittanica article. If viewers clicked the box, they were redirected to the full article about 9/11.
According toBuzzfeed, they found at least three videos of the cathedral fire with the disclaimer before it was removed from all of the videos. Many viewers took to Twitter to document their experience with the disclaimer and provided screenshots of the gray warning box.
A spokesperson for YouTube told PEOPLE that they introduced the text box as a feature last year in order to help guide their viewers away from videos that spread conspiracy theories, including some surrounding the 9/11 attacks.
They claim that the algorithm mistook the Cathedral fire as a video from the terrorist attacks, which triggered the text box.
The blaze atNotre Dame eruptedaround 6:30 p.m. Monday local time and completely consumed the spire and the structure’s roof.
Late Monday night local time, a fire official in Paris stated that the blaze had been contained and the main structure would be “saved and preserved,” according to a tweet form the AFP.
“The worst has been avoided, but the battle isn’t fully won yet,” French President Emmanuel Macron told crowds in a speech given outside of the church Monday night.
He promised also that the cathedral will be rebuilt. “It is with pride I tell you tonight we will rebuild this cathedral . . . we will rebuild Notre Dame because it is what the French expect of us, it is what our history deserves, it is, in the deepest sense, our destiny,” he said.
source: people.com
