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YouTube removes interview with professor of medicine on Covid stats and policy

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Re: YouTube removes interview with professor of medicine on Covid stats and policy

#401
post #207
post #51

I don’t agree with the interview contents, nor think professorship alone gives sufficient credibility in the face of a novel pandemic, data of which is in the process of emerging. That said, I don’t want youtube to be in charge of deciding what is credible or not. They don’t have in-house experts on these domains, they don’t have a magic epistemology machine that spits out the “facts”. They are good at writing web se…

And on the other end of the spectrum we have people being indoctrinated into violent conspiracy groups like QAnon, or being prompted to set fire to cell towers, or bringing measles back from the dead, because of YouTube videos. There's a line to be drawn here - and it's a tricky line, to be sure - but "YouTube should be totally neutral and not pull anything" is not a viable answer.

Two things could be done for this content:

- Don't list these videos in watch-next / suggestions. This avoids people getting lost down these strange rabbit holes

- Insert a prompt which notifies the viewer that the content has been flagged as misinformation. Ideally include links to resources to find out more. This prompts people to check out the widely accepted truth to compare what they'll see in the content

Just because something needs to be done about misinformation doesn't mean censorship is necessary

Re: YouTube removes interview with professor of medicine on Covid stats and policy

#402
post #224

There are several points that contradict the consensus opinion, at this time. Such as the statement "More schools should reopen in June as ‘children are not the transmitters of this virus’" is totally refuted at this point. There is plenty of evidence that children transmit the disease like any other human.

The latest research indicates that younger children are not significant transmitters of this virus. There is little scientific basis to support keeping primary schools closed. The risk may be higher with older children.

https://www.rivm.nl/en/novel-coronavirus-covid-19/children-a...

Re: YouTube removes interview with professor of medicine on Covid stats and policy

#403
post #296
post #207

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And on the other end of the spectrum we have people being indoctrinated into violent conspiracy groups like QAnon, or being prompted to set fire to cell towers, or bringing measles back from the dead, because of YouTube videos. There's a line to be drawn here - and it's a tricky line, to be sure - but "YouTube should be totally neutral and not pull anything" is not a viable answer.

How is QAnon violent? How does their violence level compare to Antifa?

Ah, downvoted with no reasons given or proof presented. I hoped for better from the good citizens of this community.

Re: YouTube removes interview with professor of medicine on Covid stats and policy

#404
post #399

Looks alive and well to me... https://youtu.be/uk2YZfnsOPg

So just guerilla advertising? So weird, that video is in the article that claims it was banned.

I would have been really surprised if they actually removed it.

The points made in the video are mostly sensible. They acknowledge the many unknowns.

It more or less advocates for the Swedish model of dealing with this vs. most other countries.

Re: YouTube removes interview with professor of medicine on Covid stats and policy

#405
post #361

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Did everyone forget what happened to these unsavory characters? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Daily_Stormer#Site_hosting...

Someone I know rather well is their sysadmin, and their site is still up: https://dailystormer.su/ Admittedly, they’ve had a hell of a time, but the hard data is that it continues to run. I don’t condone domain names or hosting accounts getting shut down based on content (ANY content) but it appears that it is still at least a little bit possible to host the most extreme of incorrect/offensive content, it’s just not…

The Daily Stormer is on a Soviet Union domain. That's really ironic.

Re: YouTube removes interview with professor of medicine on Covid stats and policy

#406

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Take a look at http://whatstheharm.net/ That should give you a better idea of what harms alternative medicine quackery can cause.

I have no doubt that believing dumb things can cause you to make bad decisions. I just don't agree that being wrong is "dangerous" in the normal sense of the word, and I don't think that banning people from saying dumb things is a good or effective solution. It's another story when people are actively running interference. I've seen messages like "don't go to the doctor for your cancer", and I agree those should be s…

Imagine a population of 1 user. A user puts of a video advertised as instructions for doing a dangerous task while leaving out vitally important steps necessary to the user actually performing the task safely. The user follows instructions and promptly dies. The user was responsible for their own actions but nonetheless its hard to argue that if we left the video up after we had identified the issue led we and the author are both complicit. We should have taken down the video. The user is still free to host their own videos but it wont achieve as much of an audience without the benefit of the platform.

Imagine a population of 1 million users. In one timeline evil, stupid misinformation isn't spread around and 1000 people die.

In another timeline it is spread around and 10000 people die. Warning labels can't help here because most of the people negatively effected are multiple steps removed from such a label. Like the first example we should have reduced its audience by taking it down entirely not added a warning label that 50-80% wont attend to.

Re: YouTube removes interview with professor of medicine on Covid stats and policy

#408

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Then they don't need to use video, they can use written words. There's no reason why they should be able to use the infrastructure of private companies to scale their message as much as they want. Or they can just pay for a CDN as you say. This just highlights the differences between the West and China even more. In the west, harmful messages need to stand on their own two feet. If they don't have support, then they…

CloudFlare, the biggest CDN, despite their words and claims routinely censors sites meanwhile defending hosting terrorist site's free speech. https://www.fastcompany.com/90312063/how-cloudflare-straddle... > the company serves at least seven groups on the U.S. State Department’s list of foreign terrorist organizations, including al-Shabab, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), al-Quds Brigades, th…

CloudFlare is under no obligation to follow a policy you find logical. If you dislike their business practices or find them problematic you might contact your local elected officials and request regulation. Otherwise you’ll have to wait and see if the magic of the free market changes anything.

Re: YouTube removes interview with professor of medicine on Covid stats and policy

#409
post #246

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are you qualified to decide whether someone with medical expertise can discuss medicine, health and policy?

Yes because doctors are licensed by their specialty. Which is only achieved by years of direct subject matter training...coupled with continuous education. The doctor in question is not licensed for infectious disease. You should never trust a doctor speaking outside of his expertise. However most of the celebrity doctors do that every single day which is an insult to the entire medical profession.

In the US at least that isn't how physician credentialing works. Doctors are licensed by state medical boards. In addition, some go on to earn certification from specialty medical boards but those certifications are not legal licenses.

In general we shouldn't blindly trust any single doctor about an important or risky topic, even within their own specialty. Always get a second or even third opinion if practical. (I agree that most celebrity doctors are little more than quacks.)

Re: YouTube removes interview with professor of medicine on Covid stats and policy

#410

Looks alive and well to me... https://youtu.be/uk2YZfnsOPg

> Pleased that Youtube has reinstated my interview. I appreciate all of the support. Nobody knows what's going to happen with this pandemic - debate is always a good thing! I think preparing for the worst, but hoping for the best is a sensible strategy.

https://twitter.com/ProfKarolSikora/status/12635183523471482...

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