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YouTube to Remove Thousands of Videos Pushing Extreme Views

nytimes.com

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Re: YouTube to Remove Thousands of Videos Pushing Extreme Views

#601

Post by busterarm »

dageshi wrote: post #412
core-questions wrote: post #389

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Youtube runs on the back of publicly-funded infrastructure and, as a natural monopoly in the space, it has a position of privilege that needs to be regulated. We need an Internet Bill of Rights to ensure free speech on any platform of this scale. Yes, that means speech you don't like; may I suggest not watching it?

I see, would that include allowing pornography on youtube, or would that not be allowed, if not why not?

Yes, that would include pornography. Age verification is not that challenging.

Re: YouTube to Remove Thousands of Videos Pushing Extreme Views

#603

Post by gamblor956 »

ng12 wrote: post #486
0815test wrote: post #478

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Fascism was not "reactionary". It was, in many ways, a sibling ideology to 'communism', but with glorification of violence, a broadly "irrational" (i.e. explicitly anti-intellectual, and almost relishing in the use of blatant propaganda as a means of influence) attitude to mass politics and either nationalist or (in the more extreme Nazi version) racially-supremacist ideology as major selling points. "White nationali…

> Fascism was not "reactionary" Fascists gained power in Italy, Germany, and Spain as a direct result of anti-communist sentiment (and in the case of Germany, a failed communist revolution). Mussolini's early writings were directly proposing nationalism as the answer to communism's failures. Everywhere fascism had success it was because it was pitted against the threat of communism. I don't know how the rise of Fasci…

I agree that facism's rise was tied to nationalism's rise.

But we're talking about the root causes of WWII. And one of the Nazi party's specific goals when invading Poland was to exterminate the Jews and Roma (Gypsy) populations of Europe.

Re: YouTube to Remove Thousands of Videos Pushing Extreme Views

#604

Post by root_axis »

Udik wrote: post #549
dageshi wrote: post #309

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is a privately owned museum a "public square"? Or a sports stadium owned by a private company? Or a Cinema? Or a threatre? No, neither is youtube. It's a place the public visit not a piece of public infrastructure. Repeating "public square" over and over again does not make it so.

Youtube, Facebook, have to decide whether they're communication infrastructure, like telephone companies, or publishers. In the first case, they have to publish everything that doesn't violate a state law; in the second case, they get to choose, but they accept liability for everything that is published on their platform.

This is wrong. The law very explicitly states that companies are not liable for content uploaded by users and are also legally able to moderate their platform as they see fit. Google section 230.

Re: YouTube to Remove Thousands of Videos Pushing Extreme Views

#605

Post by foldr »

nostromo wrote: post #541
vowelless wrote: post #144

Earlier quoted context omitted.

WW2.

WW2 was largely a war amongst whites and amongst east asians. It doesn't really map onto White Supremacy neatly. I'm surprised you didn't point to colonialism instead, which would be a better argument.

The point is that the Nazis were motivated by an ideology of racial supremacy, and that this was a significant factor in triggering WWII. This isn't some kind of wacky revisionist history I'm putting forward here. Look at any historical account of the Nazi invasion of Poland (which of course precipitated WWII) and you'll find "Lebensraum" mentioned quite prominently.

You can argue that the use of the term "white supremacy" is anachronistic in this context (as the Nazis were technically "Aryan supremacists" rather than white supremacists). But the current white supremacy movement has evolved in significant part from Nazi ideology. Take a look at the Wikipedia article on David Duke, for example, and you'll find such statements as "Picketing and holding parties on the anniversary of Hitler's birth, he became known on the LSU campus for wearing a Nazi uniform."

In short, if we're talking about racist movements within the US and Europe that are directly inspired by Nazi ideology, then whatever quibbles you might make about terminology, you can't deny that it's reasonable to project the dangers of the latter onto the former.

Re: YouTube to Remove Thousands of Videos Pushing Extreme Views

#606

Post by bufferoverflow »

fwip wrote: post #358

You're not pro-LGBT if you think trans women aren't women.

It depends on your definition of "woman". Biologically/genetically they different from biological women (females). It's a simple scientific fact.

Of course, we should treat them as humans in any case.

Re: YouTube to Remove Thousands of Videos Pushing Extreme Views

#607

Post by HBKXNCUO »

root_axis wrote: post #599
HBKXNCUO wrote: post #587

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>They will be influenced by hundreds of factors, YouTube perhaps among them, but YouTube is not of any particular our outsized importance. Outsized in comparison with what? >And? Political content exists on the bathroom stall as well, that doesn't mean it's important. Political videos on youtube have billions of views. >PewDiePie is not a political channel and is completely irrelevant with regard to politics. Like I…

> Outsized in comparison with what? With any of the other hundreds of platforms that cater to political discussion. > Political videos on youtube have billions of views So what? I'm not suggesting that YouTube isn't popular, I'm saying that just because its popular doesn't mean YouTube should be prohibited from curating it's own platform. > Do you think his politically oriented content has no impact on the politics o…

>With any of the other hundreds of platforms that cater to political discussion.

Which platforms in particular are you referring to?

>So what? I'm not suggesting that YouTube isn't popular, I'm saying that just because its popular doesn't mean YouTube should be prohibited from curating it's own platform.

I'm not saying that either. I'm saying it should be prohibited from curating its own platform because it's popular and because it's where a substantial part of the public political debate takes place.

>The impact is negligible.

Maybe, but he's only one person.

>Nobody cares what PewDiePie thinks when they enter the voting booth.

You could say that about just about anyone that isn't a cult leader, because that person isn't the only one the voter is listening to.

>it's YouTube's prerogative to kick off whoever they want

It is now, sure.

Re: YouTube to Remove Thousands of Videos Pushing Extreme Views

#608

Post by bufferoverflow »

QualityReboot wrote: post #421
fwip wrote: post #358

You're not pro-LGBT if you think trans women aren't women.

I think you meant to say "You're not pro-LGBT if you think women aren't women." Why are you segregating "trans women" as different than just "women"?

Because they are different. No transwoman can give birth or have a period. None of them has a womb. None of them are genetically female. Most of them have all the advantages of a man like higher bone density, more upper body strength.

Why are you so afraid of different groups of people being physically different? As long as you treat all groups as humans, it shouldn't be a problem. Denying basic biological facts is not a path to truth.

Re: YouTube to Remove Thousands of Videos Pushing Extreme Views

#609

Post by baud147258 »

vpmpaul wrote: post #445
AndrewStephens wrote: post #136

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was shocked when news sites started publishing comments as a matter of course. They worked so hard to research and create a 2000 word article that accurately reflects the world (in accordance to their editorial guidelines) using their good name - and then let fReEtHiNkErChAd and 2020BloodInTheStreets chime in at the end. It would be OK if they strictly moderated the comments, but few sites seem to do that.

My experience is the exact opposite. I often skim the article and find that commenters are better informed than the author and provide more relevant information.

One website where the comments are usually more interesting than the article is the register, which is mostly IT/high-tech-related news. But when I say more interesting, it's usually because they provide more context, another angle, more information or some humor.

Re: YouTube to Remove Thousands of Videos Pushing Extreme Views

#610

Post by neetdeth »

QualityReboot wrote: post #501
neetdeth wrote: post #454

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is all a very interesting thought experiment, but you're supposing some attempt at logical consistency which will surely not be made. What this announcement actually means is that YouTube is going to become more politically active in their content curation. This is what a subset of their employees, as well as influential bluechecked Twitterati, have been lobbying for. As a progressive/neo-liberal institution, it…

You're exactly right, and maybe I should just be happy that YouTube is going to enforce political views that I mostly agree with, but the whole thing is a bit unsettling and definitely going to have unintended consequences.

It should unsettle you. Power in a democracy is obtained through the manufacture of consent. SF has been reluctant to take the reigns of power away from NYC, but it's finally happening. Strap in everybody.
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