YouTube plans to to eliminate thousands of videos and channels dedicated to neo-Nazi and white supremacist content. The ban would include kooky videos denying that events like the Sandy Hook Elementary School took place. YouTube said it wanted to prevent its platform from being used to promote “hatred, harassment, discrimination and violence.” YouTube is under fire for allowing hate and racism, and at the same time President Donald Trump and his followers criticize the social media for excluding conservative voices. (The New York Times, June 5, 2019, by Kevin Roose and Kate Conger)
YouTube is experimenting with ways to counter false content including posting videos with the tag,”watch next” from authoritative sources. Employees have been concerned for some time about extreme content and pressured executives to do more. There are always problems in trying to weed out questionable content, “YouTube lost some advertisers in February because of ads appearing alongside videos shared by pedophiles. YouTube responded by banning many channels and accounts and by disabling comments on tens of millions of videos,” provoking protests from parents who were saw videos of their children deleted. (ars technica, June 5, 2019, by Jon Brodkin)