YouTube Vows to 'Improve Our Systems' After Conspiracy Video Rises to No. 1 on Trending

The clip, since taken down, is the latest algorithm fail

On Wednesday morning, YouTube’s No. 1 trending video used footage from a CBS Los Angeles video to suggest that David Hogg, one of the survivors of last week’s mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., was an actor and not an actual student at the school.

“This video should never have appeared in Trending,” said a YouTube spokesperson. “Because the video contained footage from an authoritative news source, our system misclassified it. As soon as we became aware of the video, we removed it from Trending and from YouTube for violating our policies.

AW+

WORK SMARTER - LEARN, GROW AND BE INSPIRED.

Subscribe today!

To Read the Full Story Become an Adweek+ Subscriber

View Subscription Options

Already a member? Sign in