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Why Is YouTube Demonetizing LGBTQ Videos?

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Re: Why Is YouTube Demonetizing LGBTQ Videos?

#31

Post by caseysoftware »

dottrap wrote: post #19

YouTube has been demonetizing everything across the board, from gaming videos to non-political sketch comedies, and without much explanation. This is all part of the "Adpocalypse" that YouTube content creators have been complaining about this past year. Content creators are left guessing why many of their videos are being demonetized. Even fairly bland material gets demonetized by "the algorithm". Some speculate just…

Realistically, this is the natural consequence of our current political climate. When you offend [group X] and they go after your advertisers, it's effective.

Advertisers naturally say "I don't want to be associated with anything/anyone controversial, so let's exclude those!"

The problem is that most things are "controversial" to some group.. therefore, large swaths of content are no longer "advertiser appropriate" and all creators suffer.

Re: Why Is YouTube Demonetizing LGBTQ Videos?

#33

Post by ColanR »

sp332 wrote: post #6
amelius wrote: post #4

It's one thing if a government regulates a market, yet another if a company regulates it.

But at the same time they're trying to avoid responsiblity by pointing to an algorithm. I mean they put a rainbow flag on their site and then also pull monetization from videos! I guess it's their legal right but they can't duck accountability.

> but they can't duck accountability

for what? they have no obligation to do anything besides follow the letter of the law. Anything else is your morals vs. theirs.

Re: Why Is YouTube Demonetizing LGBTQ Videos?

#34

Post by jlouis »

My bet:

1. Advertisers don't want to be featured on an ISIS recruitment video, or something like that.

2. Google implements a filter. It is fuzzy and based on machine learning, because Google are strong believers of machine learning.

3. The algorithm let a single ISIS recruitment video through. Advertisers form a coalition and yell "NO ISIS RECRUITMENT VIDEOS!"

4. This forces Google to implement either whitelists, or tune the algorithm for detecting bad content such that it produces a lot of false positives.

5. Most people are now demonetized, and since the system is based on machine learning, it is not possible for Google to tell you exactly why the neural network decided what it did.

It is clear that the current demonitization algorithm hits unfairly hard on content creators. It forces them to run a Patreon-model. I'm willing to bet that Youtube is now powerful enough that people are willing to pay for content and no ads for certain channels, so in the end this is not necessarily good for advertisers.

Re: Why Is YouTube Demonetizing LGBTQ Videos?

#36

Post by pjc50 »

patryn20 wrote: post #23
sp332 wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not sure if there is a line. Here are two identical videos, and the one with "transgender" in the title was demonetized. https://twitter.com/GeekRemix/status/910942349928419328 (edited with larger sample)

That is extremely troubling. I wonder if it's because the algorithm is taking into account previous negative uses of the word in comments/commentary and flagging it as possible hate speech?

This is the point that various people such as Maciej Cegłowski have been making - if they had a policy which banned that word, we could argue about it; but if they have an algorithm that emits the same result but without explanation, it's much harder to make criticism stick. And unless people go to special effort, the algorithm will pick up the prejudices of the training data.

Re: Why Is YouTube Demonetizing LGBTQ Videos?

#37

Post by smallerize »

ben_jones wrote: post #13

One of the mentioned videos was a sex-ed video. Honest question wouldn't sex-related content violate TOS even if its for educational purposes?

If it violated the TOS they would just take the video down. Talking about sex, even with very explicit language, isn't against YouTube's rules. Heck they'll sell you softcore porn! NSFW https://www.youtube.com/results?q=red+shoe+diaries&sp=EgIQBF...

Re: Why Is YouTube Demonetizing LGBTQ Videos?

#38

Post by ouid »

1337biz wrote: post #8
sp332 wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But at the same time they're trying to avoid responsiblity by pointing to an algorithm. I mean they put a rainbow flag on their site and then also pull monetization from videos! I guess it's their legal right but they can't duck accountability.

'But it's the algorithm' has become the new 'but I am a comedian, what kind of a fool are you to take my political propaganda serious' defense.

He says, trying to make a humorous analogy to further his political ideals.

Re: Why Is YouTube Demonetizing LGBTQ Videos?

#39

Post by gamesbrainiac »

With all due respect for those who create these videos, is it not up to google to determine what they do and don't monetize? At the end of the day, it is their platform, and they will do whatever makes the most business sense. YouTube is not a government service, it is a private company, and as such it holds to right to make whatever decision it needs to make in order to maximize its business potential.

Re: Why Is YouTube Demonetizing LGBTQ Videos?

#40

Post by sp332 »

ColanR wrote: post #33
sp332 wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But at the same time they're trying to avoid responsiblity by pointing to an algorithm. I mean they put a rainbow flag on their site and then also pull monetization from videos! I guess it's their legal right but they can't duck accountability.

> but they can't duck accountability for what? they have no obligation to do anything besides follow the letter of the law. Anything else is your morals vs. theirs.

Ok? I haven't seen anyone asking for law enforcement to get involved. This is between Google and its customers and users.
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