YouTube will remove more white supremacist and hoax videos, a more aggressive stance on hate speech

[DonViejo]

Source: The Washington Post



By Elizabeth Dwoskin June 5 at 12:06 PM
YouTube said Wednesday it will remove false videos alleging that major events like the Holocaust didn’t happen, as well as a broad array of content by white supremacists and others in a move to more aggressively crack down on hate speech.

The Google-owned video site, along with its Silicon Valley peers, is starting to take a broader view of hate speech in the face of criticism that it has failed to prevent the spread of harmful videos that distort world events, hurt children, or promote discriminatory ideologies. On Tuesday, for instance, Vox Media called out YouTube for failing to remove homophobic and racist videos attacking one of its reporters.

While YouTube, which has over 1.8 billion daily users, has long prohibited videos that promote violence or hatred against people based on their age, religious beliefs, gender, religion, immigration status, sexual orientation, and other protected categories, the new hate speech policy will go further. The policies will specifically ban videos “alleging that a group is superior in order to justify discrimination, segregation, or exclusion,” based on those categories. That would include groups that “glorify Nazi ideology,” the company said in its announcement, because such beliefs were “inherently discriminatory.”

Previously, the company had drawn a fine line between “hate” and “superiority,” choosing to limit the spread of white supremacy videos by removing them from algorithmic recommendations and not allowing advertising on them, but not banning them entirely unless they expressly promoted violence. The stance allowed many videos to slip through the cracks. In 2018, the Washington Post reported that users on social media sites popular with hate groups, such as Gab.ai and 4chan, linked to YouTube more often than any other site.

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2019/06/05/youtube-will-remove-more-white-supremacist-hoax-videos-greater-hate-speech-effort/?utm_term=.44ddf5b66508&wpisrc=al_technology__alert-economy--alert-tech&wpmk=1

[GemDigger]

1. I will believe it when I don't see it.

[Fullduplexxx]

2. Is the pelosi hoax video still up

[IronLionZion]

3. They better update their policies then

because in the past they claimed such videos were not removed because it didn't violate their policies.

[PSPS]

4. LOL. Sure. "YouTube says anti-gay slurs don't break its rules"

YouTube is one of many companies that has given its logo a rainbow-themed makeover to show support for LGBT rights - but, underneath the colourful veneer, a row has erupted over how the video-sharing site enforces its own hate-speech policies.

At the centre of the dispute is journalist Carlos Maza, who presents a popular series called Strikethrough for the news site Vox.

He says he has faced persistent abuse from rival video-maker Steven Crowder, who has more than 3.8 million subscribers on YouTube.

Whenever Maza publishes a video for Vox, Crowder will post his own "debunking" video, peppered with insulting language attacking Maza's sexual orientation and ethnicity.

So, last week, Maza posted a video compilation of the abuse.

In the clips, Crowder imitates Maza's accent and calls him, among other things, a "lispy queer", a "gay Vox sprite" and a "gay Mexican".

Maza asked YouTube to step in.

More at: https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-48525698