YouTube linked to information about the 9/11 terrorist attacks on livestreams of the Notre Dame Cathedral fire Monday even though officials had not identified the cause of the blaze.
The pages for the streams initially included YouTube’s new information panels right below the video with a brief note and a link to the Encyclopedia Britannica’s article on the 2001 attack.
{mosads}The panels have since been removed from the livestreams.
“We are deeply saddened by the ongoing fire at the Notre Dame cathedral. Last year, we launched information panels with links to third party sources like Encyclopedia Britannica and Wikipedia for subjects subject to misinformation. These panels are triggered algorithmically and our systems sometimes make the wrong call. We are disabling these panels for live streams related to the fire,” a YouTube spokesperson said in a statement to The Hill.
YouTube began rolling out the information panels last month in order to combat conspiracy theories by providing context on controversial topics.
“This information panel will appear alongside videos related to the topic, regardless of the opinions or perspectives expressed in the videos,” YouTube’s help center says about the feature.
The site has come under harsh criticism in recent months for its content moderation, which many say has failed to stem the spread of disinformation and hate speech.
–This report was updated at 3:15 p.m.