youtube demonetization 4×3 Samantha Lee/Business Insider

YouTube is having a hard time fulfilling its promise to label state-sponsored videos, according to a new report from ProPublica.

YouTube said last year that it would start clearly identifying all videos that were funded by a government agency.

But ProPublica identified 57 government-funded channels on the platform that were not initially labeled as state-sponsored.

YouTube subsequently labeled 35 of those channels as state-sponsored after ProPublica identified them, according to the outlet.

Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.

YouTube is reportedly struggling to keep its promise to identify and label videos uploaded by state-sponsored sources.

A recent investigation from ProPublica identified 57 government-funded YouTube channels that the platform had not labeled as such. Once the outlet alerted YouTube to its reporting, 35 of the channels were immediately labeled as state-sponsored.

The channels included Russian-funded news and talk show episodes in which hosts downplayed the extent of Russian interference in the 2016 US presidential election. YouTube also reportedly failed until recently to label a US-funded channel that posts Russian-language videos criticizing the Russian government.

The streaming platform first promised to label videos from state-funded media outlets in 2018 amid concerns that governments were using the site to spread misinformation. Similarly, Facebook has promised to label state-funded media pages and ads.

In a statement to Business Insider, a YouTube spokesperson touted the company’s ongoing efforts to label videos and said many state-sponsored videos are unlabeled because the channels aren’t owned by „news publishers.“

„We heavily invest to improve the news experience and ensure people receive information from authoritative sources on YouTube,“ the spokesperson said. „Since launching this feature in February 2018, we’ve identified and labeled hundreds of these channels.“

YouTube’s struggle to adhere to its own promise to label state-sponsored videos has been well-documented in recent years. ProPublica’s story builds on previous reporting by the Committee to Protect Journalists and Reuters, both of which identified dozens of state-backed channels that YouTube failed to label.