In the era of concern over what constitutes real or “fake news,” YouTube announced in a blog post this week that it will now indentify any video uploaded by state-sponsored news media with a label that the content was “funded in whole or in part” by the applicable government. According to the Hollywood Reporter, YouTube’s new label will appear below a video and above its title and will include a link to the broadcaster's Wikipedia page.

YouTube also allegedly plans to identify news agencies that receive some or all of their funding from the public.   Stations like PBS have since expressed concern with YouTube’s plan, finding that the label could “wrongly imply that the government has influence over PBS content,” which is actually prohibited by statute.

We’ll watch to see how the labeling unfolds in practice, and if other kinds of content labels develop.