A Europe-based nonprofit has found that YouTube’s tools to fight misinformation are applied unevenly across European languages.
AI Forensics tested YouTube’s “information panels,” which appear on videos and search results about topics often targeted by conspiracy theories, such as climate change or COVID-19 vaccines. These panels should link viewers to credible sources, including Wikipedia.
The group discovered major gaps in coverage. All 83 platform languages were checked for 12 conspiracy-related topics and four publisher label types. Every panel is available in English, and almost all are present in German, except for the Armenian genocide. In contrast, few appear in Icelandic or Lithuanian, and regional languages like Basque, Catalan, and Galician are often overlooked.
AI Forensics also found inconsistencies in YouTube’s “public funding” labels for news outlets. For example, Euronews is flagged for partial EU funding in some countries but not in Denmark, Greece, Norway, Iceland, Finland, or Portugal.
Salvatore Romano, head of research at AI Forensics, warned that these gaps may give some users “differential access to safety” measures against misinformation.
YouTube acknowledged to AI Forensics that the discrepancies were unintended but admitted it lacked a system to check deployments across Europe. The company says it is working to expand panel coverage.
If the issue remains unresolved, Romano plans to urge the European Commission to investigate possible breaches of the Digital Services Act.
AI Forensics has launched a public tracker showing which topics display information panels in each language, enabling scrutiny of any future changes.
