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YouTube to Remove Thousands of Videos Pushing Extreme Views

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Re: YouTube to Remove Thousands of Videos Pushing Extreme Views

#91
Good. Online radicalism is a thing.

To all the people here who are decrying this as “censorship”, remember that during the early 2010s, Islamic radicals were getting radicalized on YouTube by pretty benign sermons (Ex: Awlaki and his “tour of Paradise” lectures that inspired Boston 2013, fort hood and a bunch of other international attacks). YouTube removed all that out and I think Muslims getting radicalized on YouTube plummeted.

White supremacy is a much bigger deal with a worse tail risk than Islamic extremism. Don’t see why anyone would object to removal of Neo nazi content yet go along with the removal of wahabi sermons.

Re: YouTube to Remove Thousands of Videos Pushing Extreme Views

#92
post #55
post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No censorship. You are still free to create your own YouTube clone and publish your extreme political views there. Maybe call it "GabTube"?

GoDaddy banned the gab.com domain name from their registrar. What's next? "No censorship. You are still free to establish your own telecommunications infrastructure and publish your extreme political views there." ?

Unless otherwise regulated, yes, of course. No one should be forced to conduct business with another party.

Re: YouTube to Remove Thousands of Videos Pushing Extreme Views

#93

And here we go. As usual the "racist" pretext is being used to censor videos. I have no doubt that there are some terrible awful racist videos in that lot but you have to wonder how many times this is ALSO used as a mean to censor pretty much any video that the youtube execs don't like. Censorship is getting worse Edit: Replacing "Censorship is coming back" with "Censorship is getting worse"

What is the end game of this censorship nonsense? Do people really think that if they play whack-a-mole against every instance of speech you don't like online, it will improve the world somehow? How, exactly? Other people won't see it, so they won't be "infected" by it? What is the theory, exactly, because it always looks to me like an inane reactionary conclusion...something a mob would do.

Re: YouTube to Remove Thousands of Videos Pushing Extreme Views

#94

And here we go. As usual the "racist" pretext is being used to censor videos. I have no doubt that there are some terrible awful racist videos in that lot but you have to wonder how many times this is ALSO used as a mean to censor pretty much any video that the youtube execs don't like. Censorship is getting worse Edit: Replacing "Censorship is coming back" with "Censorship is getting worse"

Exactly. The phrasing used in their press release allows them to take down any video they deem offensive. Censorship is bad for the platform as a whole.

YouTube/Google can already take down any video they like, for any reason, or for no reason at all. And they already do this literally all the time, ask any content creator with more than a handful of videos on the platform.

The only reason there is a press release for this particular event is for the inevitable positive press and media attention it will garner.

Re: YouTube to Remove Thousands of Videos Pushing Extreme Views

#95
post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I fully and without compromise support the right to free speech of all citizens, including "nazis" or whatever the overloaded term people are using these days. Rights aren't removed from citizens because you don't like their politics or beliefs. If you cheer when someone is deplatformed, remember that it is a short walk for your own ideas and beliefs to be deplatformed when the winds change.

> I FULLY support the right to free speech of all citizens, including "nazis" Careful there, you yourself might be a nazi by the left's logic. /s

[deleted]

Re: YouTube to Remove Thousands of Videos Pushing Extreme Views

#96
post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Since when do they need a pretext? Countless videos from LGBTQ+ people and people of color got wiped out due to mass reporting and inaccurate automated removals. All the people who usually cry censorship were silent.

That was a while ago, right? From what I remember, the "usual suspects" (aka libertarians, liberalists etc) weren't that silent, they pointed out the irony that the try to control platforming backfired, but did oppose the bans. Might be something newer, of course, in which case I didn't see it and can't comment on it.

It's an ongoing thing, and not just on YouTube. I see people popping on to Mastodon every day because they said, on their own timeline to people following them, that (for example) "transphobes can fall off a cliff." Banned for threats. Sometimes permanently. Most big instances have the :guillotine: and :trebuchet: emoji because of one such case.

This is way more than the few cases that float up into your attention. It's been going on for years across all these big silos. People who fully endorse actual censorship know they can abuse automated systems to silence marginalized people.

Re: YouTube to Remove Thousands of Videos Pushing Extreme Views

#97

Will YouTube also remove their algos that send people down rabbit holes of “extreme views” and encapsulate individuals in information bubbles that seem to validate and fail to challenge their views? The platform should shoulder as much or more blame than the content in this case. Free speech man. This is not ok.

>and encapsulate individuals in information bubbles that seem to validate and fail to challenge their views? Err, how do you know that the algorithm does this? And also, how do you know that people are not exposed to other views outside of YouTube. And lastly, why do you think its the job of an entertainment platform to "challenge" views?

> Err, how do you know that the algorithm does this?

Youtube optimizes for watch time. Most people don't want to spend their afternoons having their views challenged.

Any algorithm that properly optimizes for watch time of the masses will learn to validate views.

Re: YouTube to Remove Thousands of Videos Pushing Extreme Views

#98

There are comments being removed from this thread even though they are not supremacist. People need to wake up to the control of big tech, big govt, etc.

Wouldn't that imply that the only reason comments might be removed from Hacker News is if they encourage violent, extremist political ideologies?

Re: YouTube to Remove Thousands of Videos Pushing Extreme Views

#99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Freedom of speech is not entitlement to an audience. People can always make a sign and shout in the park.

You don't really have a chance at an audience without using the platform..

I don't think the other poster misses your point at all, but simply disagrees with it (as do I).

Re: YouTube to Remove Thousands of Videos Pushing Extreme Views

#100
post #55
post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No censorship. You are still free to create your own YouTube clone and publish your extreme political views there. Maybe call it "GabTube"?

GoDaddy banned the gab.com domain name from their registrar. What's next? "No censorship. You are still free to establish your own telecommunications infrastructure and publish your extreme political views there." ?

Followed by "No censorship. You are still free to establish your extreme political views in another country."
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