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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.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Runaway1956 on Tuesday June 11 2019, @02:38AM (4 children)
That sounds good, on the surface.
Then, there is the guy like me. I know the holocaust happened. I know multiple millions of people were killed in the holocaust, and not all of them Jews. And, I question the number of people killed. My position is, no one has an exact count of the dead. There is some likelihood that only 4 million Jews were killed, and not the officially sanctioned 6 million. There is a greater likelihood that 7 or 8 million Jews died, and they simply can't all be counted for various reasons. So - if I question that officially sanctioned number, if I argue for either a lower or higher number, does that get me put on a list? Will that get me banned? Would that be reason to label me a Nazi? If I did the research, and found a dozen smaller towns and villages in Europe where unknown sub-stations executed and processed Jews and other victims during the genocide, what then?
Authoritative voices are all fine and good - but always question authority. Today's SJW's have done a 180 from the '60's when we were told to question authority. They want to replace existing authority, and forbid anyone questioning the new authority.
That is most definitely a giant step backward for society.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by VanessaE on Tuesday June 11 2019, @09:04AM
No one worth a damn is saying not to question the official story for an event, especially when you're just questioning the fine details. As Jews we're taught to question everything within reason, for the sake of learning/education.
Go ahead and question the exact numbers, because who knows... you may just be right. Maybe it was only 4-5 million (highly unlikely), maybe it was 8 million (possible, but improbable)? Just don't do so in public view, without reputable sources with verifiable facts and records to prove your point. Since no one in the past 80 years has managed to come up with something concrete and verifiable, 6 million remains the official count, and I strongly doubt that'll change now.
When one gets to a point of denying the sheer volume of murders or that the event happened at all, without a metric shitton of evidence to support that denial, that's when one gets labeled, and rightfully-so. I don't know what the threshold is between questioning and denial, but it sure as shit is way more than zero. Any data a denier could possibly come up with at this point is massively, ridiculously overwhelmed by evidence proving the extent to which it did happen.
This is Soylent, and like the green site, we need a car analogy:
There is an envelope full of receipts in the file cabinet in the house, boxes of worn-out and/or damaged parts in the garage, a rusty, and a sludge-covered engine sitting on blocks behind the house, with an oil pan with a huge hole in it sitting off to one side. All of that stuff fits only one specific year, make, and model of some classic car, with that specific engine. The driveway has been contaminated with oil for the past couple of months, and there's a spot in the yard next to the driveway where the grass has died, evidently from some kind of chemical contamination.
In the driveway, there's a car of the same year, make and model which takes those old parts... it looks, runs, and drives beautifully, with an engine compartment and undercarriage that looks like something out of a car show. In short, the car is pristine. Therefore, SURELY it has never had a breakdown, let alone a blown engine. No, that's just impossible, and all those parts are just a coincidence, the rusty engine was planted there by some guy from the other side of town, and those receipts were all forged, and anyone who claims otherwise is some kind of revisionist or just a liar.
From my perspective, THAT is the degree of denial we're seeing today (scaled appropriately). Meanwhile, an intelligent person just questions the level of wear or damage of decommissioned parts and the dollar figures on the receipts, if anything at all.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 11 2019, @08:52PM (1 child)
Always with the identity politics.
"Today's SJW's have done a 180 from the '60's when we were told to question authority. They want to replace existing authority, and forbid anyone questioning the new authority."
You probably have no idea that you're massively projecting and applying your anger to the fake SJW Bogey Man. Are there extremist authoritarians on both sides? Yes. Are conservatives massively more authoritarian than liberals? Yes.
This is not a debate, you are simply wrong and for years have refused to see reality. Go on freaking out at every instance of liberal bullshit while ignoring the mountain you keep pretending doesn't exist in your backyard.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 12 2019, @01:12AM
Identity politics are the province of the D's.
(Score: 2) by edIII on Wednesday June 12 2019, @07:47PM
You're presupposing your own victimhood on this.
Ok.
Would depend on context. By default I would say no. There just isn't anything there that's controversial. Of course it isn't reason to label you a Nazi.
Congratulations! You're a historian now. Present your findings to the academic community for peer review. Those interested in the search for the truth (real historians) would incorporate that information into our known history of World War II. Remember when I said context? If you presented it in YouTube, or some other outlet, you would be a historian presenting evidence to give us extra insight into the world at that time. Nothing wrong with that. If you wore a Nazi uniform though, well they might call you a Nazi.
Yeah, it seems you constructed the whole situation, in which you were the victim, just to smear the other side here. Most people do question authority these days, and if you want to talk about people like you described, then include the far-right too. Orange Anus is a criminal in the office, but as a whole, anybody "questioning the new authority" gets attacked by the Trumpanzees. See? It works both ways.
Technically, lunchtime is at any moment. It's just a wave function.