YouTube Accidentally Links Notre Dame Fires To 9/11

YouTube accidentally linked the fires at Notre Dame Cathedral Monday to the September 11 terrorist attacks with a feature designed to stop the spread of misinformation.

When viewers clicked on the YouTube live stream of the fires at Notre Dame, a link popped up offering information from Encyclopedia Brittanica on the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, according to CNN.

YouTube’s mistake comes as commentators shie away from connecting the Notre Dame Cathedral burning to any kind of terrorist actvitity. The cause of the fires is still being investigated.

#BREAK YouTube blames its algorithms for linking today’s fire in Notre Dame, Paris, to the September 11th terrorist attacks https://t.co/9xKKc6YUr7 pic.twitter.com/r5JErDO2aj

— Donie O’Sullivan (@donie) April 15, 2019

YouTube says that this was an accident caused by an algorithim designed to stop the spread of misinformation by providing relevant background. The feature was designed in 2018 as a fact-checking mechanism.

“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 told CNN.

The Notre Dame Cathedral fires started Monday evening in Paris, France.