Stories
Slash Boxes
Comments

SoylentNews is people

posted by janrinok on Monday June 10 2019, @05:53PM   Printer-friendly

On June 5th, YouTube announced in a post on its official blog that it is going to be:

Removing more hateful and supremacist content from YouTube

by specifically prohibiting videos alleging that a group is superior in order to justify discrimination, segregation or exclusion based on qualities like age, gender, race, caste, religion, sexual orientation or veteran status.

Finally, we will remove content denying that well-documented violent events, like the Holocaust or the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary, took place.

Reducing borderline content and raising up authoritative voices

In January, we piloted an update of our systems in the U.S. to limit recommendations of borderline content and harmful misinformation

We're looking to bring this updated system to more countries by the end of 2019. Thanks to this change, the number of views this type of content gets from recommendations has dropped by over 50% in the U.S. Our systems are also getting smarter about what types of videos should get this treatment, and we'll be able to apply it to even more borderline videos moving forward. As we do this, we'll also start raising up more authoritative content in recommendations

Continuing to reward trusted creators and enforce our monetization policies

we are strengthening enforcement of our existing YouTube Partner Program policies. Channels that repeatedly brush up against our hate speech policies will be suspended from the YouTube Partner program, meaning they can't run ads on their channel or use other monetization features like Super Chat.

In an article discussing this, Silicon Valley reporter Casey Newton of The Verge notes that this "is expected to result in the removal of thousands of channels across YouTube."

The crackdown goes into effect today and will "ramp up" over the next few days.

Aristarchus adds from Time:

The video streaming company says it has already made it more difficult to find and promote such videos, but it's now removing them outright. YouTube will also prohibit videos that deny certain proven events have taken place, such as the Holocaust.

The changes come as YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and other online services face mounting concern that the services allow, and in some cases foster , extremism.

YouTube's new policies will take effect immediately. Specifically, the service is banning videos "alleging that a group is superior in order to justify discrimination, segregation or exclusion." The ban applies to a range of characteristics, including race, sexual orientation and veteran status.

[...] The companies have said they are walking the balance between creating safe spaces while also protecting freedom of expression. With little government oversight on online material, internet companies have become the arbiters for what is and isn't allowed.


Original Submission #1Original Submission #2

 
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.
Display Options Threshold/Breakthrough Mark All as Read Mark All as Unread
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
  • (Score: 4, Insightful) by ilPapa on Monday June 10 2019, @07:40PM (7 children)

    by ilPapa (2366) on Monday June 10 2019, @07:40PM (#853829) Journal

    1) I believe that YouTube has the right to host whatever content, or ban whatever content, they want. Free speech does not guarantee that a multinational corporation will distribute your speech for free. And before you ask, no, I do not think a cake-baker in West Jesus, Missouri should be forced to bake a cake for a gay wedding. If they want to turn away a customer, let them fuck themselves all they want. Also...

    2) I believe Alphabet should be broken the fuck up, stat. Like yesterday. There's no way on earth that a corporation with that much control over how people use the internet should also be able to own one of the biggest channels for content on the internet. It's an obvious violation of anti-trust laws. While we're at it, every telecom that provides content, every company like Apple, every motherfucking energy conglomerate should meet with the same fate. We're all better off when they're broken up the way a sledgehammer breaks up a boulder.

    So, the way I see it, YouTube has a job to do: If it doesn't want to be associated with hate speech, harassment, bigotry and racism, they should absolutely throw all the wannabe nazis and soft-ass hatemongers like Stephen Crowders right the fuck off. And the US government (specifically, the Justice Department) has a job to do, which is bring the giant anti-trust hammer down on YouTube/Alphabet.

    --
    You are still welcome on my lawn.
    Starting Score:    1  point
    Moderation   +2  
       Insightful=2, Total=2
    Extra 'Insightful' Modifier   0  
    Karma-Bonus Modifier   +1  

    Total Score:   4  
  • (Score: 4, Insightful) by edIII on Monday June 10 2019, @07:58PM (4 children)

    by edIII (791) on Monday June 10 2019, @07:58PM (#853835)

    a cake-baker in West Jesus, Missouri should be forced to bake a cake for a gay wedding. If they want to turn away a customer, let them fuck themselves all they want.

    Absolutely not. That's one step away from "whites only pies". Remember, religion was often used to support the positions that blacks were inferior spiritually. Science was even abused at some points to declare the black man mentally and/or physically unfit for some tasks. The justification to turn away a customer primarily because they're gay is purely about racism and bigotry. If you can turn someone away because they're gay, then you can turn someone away because they're black. The arguments have an amazing amount of similarity WRT religion and intolerance.

    I believe in the "right to refuse any customer", but not the right to engage in a clear pattern of discrimination. Not if you want a business license. If that gay dude wasn't wear shoes or shirt though, refuse service. However, that is based on facts, and not opinions.

    These latest push to legitimize intolerance under the guise of religious liberty is a farce. You're free to exercise your religion, but only to the extent it doesn't affect others or their liberty. You're not free to use you're religion, or your freedom of religion, to justify discrimination. That's bullshit.

    --
    Technically, lunchtime is at any moment. It's just a wave function.
    • (Score: 3, Interesting) by ilPapa on Monday June 10 2019, @10:13PM

      by ilPapa (2366) on Monday June 10 2019, @10:13PM (#853917) Journal

      You're free to exercise your religion, but only to the extent it doesn't affect others or their liberty. You're not free to use you're religion, or your freedom of religion, to justify discrimination. That's bullshit.

      Well, we have conflicting rights here. If I remember correctly, the cake baker would have to SELL the gay people a cake, but they could refuse to decorate it with a wedding message. That seems a reasonable difference.

      While the Mississippi lunch counter had to seat and serve food to black people, they could not be forced to wear t-shirts that say, "Hooray for black people". I think you see the distinction between business discrimination and compelling speech, as in a wedding cake that this cake-baker claimed was his "art form". At some point, the solution is not legal, but social. The gay couples should camp out on the sidewalk in front of the cake baker and make out and demonstrate and absolutely boycott the fuck out of that cake baker. Punish him in a way that the legal system is ill-equipped to do.

      --
      You are still welcome on my lawn.
    • (Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 11 2019, @12:09AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 11 2019, @12:09AM (#853979)

      A policeman shot a woman without cause. He was recently sentenced to 12 years prison. Somali protestors came out accusing the court of being racist and antiislam.

      To get off these days all you need to be is dark colored and muslim.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 11 2019, @03:45AM (1 child)

      by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 11 2019, @03:45AM (#854057)

      Imagine if you will a group of people that are so despised that the government must make a law to make it illegal to hate them.

      Your dedication to the idea of "protected classes" will be the undoing of your haughtiness. Sooner or later, those you dislike will become protected classes as well not because they are weak or sympathetic, but because the constant vitriolic hate that your "side" vents upon them at every opportunity. Your side's hate and constant persecution under the guise of enlightenment will force its arrival.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 11 2019, @09:46PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 11 2019, @09:46PM (#854393)

        Sadly you don't realize that defending an innocent conservative from bigotry is 100% part of the message. Also, you seem to not realize that your "side" is already protected. You send your worst to college campuses to promote hate and bigotry, you get to protest and yell nasty shit at people going to get medical help, and no one is preventing Christians from practicing or talking about their faith.

        So you are already protected, much like we demand EVERYONE be protected. But yer an authoritarian little cunt who sees the slightest pushback as serious persecution on par with a lynching or cross burning in your yard. Preeeety snowflakey there bub.

  • (Score: 2) by Nobuddy on Tuesday June 11 2019, @02:57PM (1 child)

    by Nobuddy (1626) on Tuesday June 11 2019, @02:57PM (#854213)

    Now apply that logic to Clearchannel and Sinclair media.

    • (Score: 2) by ilPapa on Tuesday June 11 2019, @03:11PM

      by ilPapa (2366) on Tuesday June 11 2019, @03:11PM (#854217) Journal

      Now apply that logic to Clearchannel and Sinclair media.

      Absolutely. 100%. Neither of those entities should exist. They are very literally enemies of the people.

      --
      You are still welcome on my lawn.