Susan Wojcicki has died

Yeah it was a tasteless comment. It's not good form to speak ill of the dead. Let sleeping dogs lie. Even the bible says something like that:

"Speak not evil one of another, brethren. He that speaketh evil of his brother, and judgeth his brother, speaketh evil of the law, and judgeth the law: but if thou judge the law, thou art not a doer of the law, but a judge." -James 4:11 (KJV)

To answer your question and speak to the subject matter in the most mundane and academic sense possible, it was focusing in on YT's having become well-known for its level of having turned to political correctness (part and parcel of advertiser friendliness perhaps) in the form of changes in community standards, terms of service, and anti-mis-and-disinfo policies seen by strict free-speech advocates (and some other groups) as especially onerous and undesirable. Officially, the privately owned [but publicly traded] company can do that, and the matter even was decided upon by the United States Supreme Court recently. Although, it is also officially the case that much of this kind of selective information permissibility was indeed government-suggested, which does raise more questions about kosherness. Further, what could potentially be seen as the recursive externalization and deferral of responsibility (arguably for political, social, or economic reasons) rather than acknowledging and taking on hard tasks is a related moral issue (requiring tremendous courage given the scenario, and perhaps an academic rigor and breadth and depth of capacity not commonly found anywhere, anyway). These are the unsavory matters that many ivory armchair critics of the past, present, and future may sadly think of regarding the past several years of YT in particular (though really many observers were acutely aware of them over the last 10 years or so as a progression), and naturally a topmost corporate face is seen as having been some kind of responsible decision-maker (regardless of the truth of the matter).

Instead, those critics could be making better technological and sociological solutions, and educating, and admitting that people are imperfect and can all do their best. Instead of criticizing others.

Was shocked to hear this news. I worked for Google years ago but I was in the NYC office, so we didn't run into the YouTube folks much.

Opinions about YouTube may be mixed here on HN, but it is objectively one of the most successful businesses in tech or media to emerge in the past 15 years. If it weren't buried inside Alphabet, Youtube would be worth on the order of $400 billion, more than Disney and Comcast combined. It's a weird mix of a huge creator monetization network, a music channel, an education platform, a forever-store of niche content, and a utility.

It's also not a business that rested on it's laurels. It's easy to forget how novel creator monetization was when YouTube adopted it. They do a lot of active work to manage their creators, and now have grown into a music and podcast platform that is challenging Apple. To top it off, YouTube TV, despite costing just as much as cable, is objectively a good product.

Few products have the brand, the reach, monetization, and the endurance that YouTube has had within Google. And I know for a fact that this is in no small part due to the way it was managed.

I've probably watched tens of thousands of hours of YouTube at this point. Some of it sublime, some of it absurd, some of it critical for my work or my degree. I couldn't imagine a world without it.

RIP.

What's with all the pearl clutching today? If you want to act morally outraged, at least find something even mildly offensive to respond to.

Why not? Isn't it in "their interest" to keep people alive longer and longer?

If you live long enough you will most likely die from either heart disease, #2 killer, or cancer, the #1 killer. Accidental self inflicted injury is #3. We're not doing anything wrong. Quite the opposite.

Since not even having a billion will allow you to cheat death, perhaps we shouldn't allow billionaires to cheat everyone else in life.