YouTube engages in yet another round of content crackdown:
YouTube is changing its community guidelines to ban videos promoting the superiority of any group as a justification for discrimination against others based on their age, gender, race, caste, religion, sexual orientation, or veteran status, the company said today. The move, which will result in the removal of all videos promoting Nazism and other discriminatory ideologies, is expected to result in the removal of thousands of channels across YouTube.
“The openness of YouTube’s platform has helped creativity and access to information thrive,” the company said in a blog post. “It’s our responsibility to protect that, and prevent our platform from being used to incite hatred, harassment, discrimination and violence.”
The changes announced on Wednesday attempt to improve its content moderation in three ways. First, the ban on supremacists will remove Nazis and other extremists who advocate segregation or exclusion based on age, gender, race, religion, sexual orientation, or veteran status. In addition to those categories, YouTube is adding caste, which has significant implications in India, and “well-documented violent events,” such as the Sandy Hook elementary school shooting and 9/11. Users are no longer allowed to post videos saying those events did not happen, YouTube said.
Second, YouTube said it would expand efforts announced in January to reduce the spread of what it calls “borderline content and harmful misinformation.” The policy, which applies to videos that flirt with violating the community guidelines but ultimately fall short, aims to limit the promotion of those videos through recommendations. YouTube said the policy, which affects videos including flat-earthers and peddlers of phony miracle cures, had already decreased the number of views that borderline videos receive by 50 percent. In the future, the company said, it will recommend videos from more authoritative sources, like top news channels, in its “next watch” panel.
Finally, YouTube said it would restrict channels from monetizing their videos if they are found to “repeatedly brush up against our hate speech policies.” Those channels will not be able to run ads or use Super Chat, which lets channel subscribers pay creators directly for extra chat features.
That was fast. Literally 10 minutes after I read about YouTube’s new policies, I received several emails from YouTube:
Hi Voxiversity,
As you may know, our Community Guidelines describe which content we allow – and don’t allow – on YouTube. Your video Immigration and War was flagged to us for review. Upon review, we’ve determined that it violates our guidelines and we’ve removed it from YouTube.
Please note that this removal has not resulted in a Community Guidelines strike or penalty on your account.
Sincerely,
– The YouTube Team
But wait, there’s more!
As you may know, our Community Guidelines describe which content we allow – and don’t allow – on YouTube. Your video Voxday Darkstream 04.25.2018 The Problem with Jordan Peterson was flagged to us for review. Upon review, we’ve determined that it violates our guidelines and we’ve removed it from YouTube.
As you may know, our Community Guidelines describe which content we allow – and don’t allow – on YouTube. Your video Voxday Darkstream 04.28.2018 The Culling of the Cucks was flagged to us for review. Upon review, we’ve determined that it violates our guidelines and we’ve removed it from YouTube.
If you were waiting for a sign to subscribe to Unauthorized.TV, this would be it.
UPDATE: a number of Owen Benjamin’s videos have also been deleted.
UPDATE: Steven Crowder’s channel has now been demonetized.
Update on our continued review–we have suspended this channel’s monetization. We came to this decision because a pattern of egregious actions has harmed the broader community and is against our YouTube Partner Program policies.