(Link to website for video)
More
than 100 nongovernment organizations (NGOs) and government agencies around the
world help police YouTube for extremist content, ranging from so-called hate
speech to terrorist recruiting videos.
All
of them have confidentiality agreements barring Google, YouTube’s parent
company, from revealing their participation to the public, a Google
representative told The Daily Caller on Thursday.
A
handful of groups, including the Anti-Defamation League and No Hate Speech, a
European organization focused on combatting intolerance, have chosen to go
public with their participation in the program, but the vast majority have
stayed hidden behind the confidentiality agreements. Most groups in the program
don’t want to be publicly associated with it, according to the Google
spokesperson, who spoke only on background.
YouTube’s
“Trusted Flaggers” program goes back to 2012, but the program has exploded in
size in recent years amid a Google push to increase regulation of the content
on its platforms, which followed pressure from advertisers. Fifty of the
113 program members joined in 2017 as YouTube stepped up its content
policing, YouTube public policy director Juniper Downs told a Senate committeeon
Wednesday.
The
third-party groups work closely with YouTube’s employees to crack down on
extremist content in two ways, Downs said and a Google spokesperson confirmed.
First, they are equipped with digital tools allowing them to mass flag content
for review by YouTube personnel. Second, the partner groups act as guides to
YouTube’s content monitors and engineers who design the algorithms policing
YouTube but may lack the expertise needed to tackle a given subject.
It’s
not just terrorist videos that Google is censoring. Jordan B. Peterson, a
professor known for opposing political correctness, had one of his videos
blocked in 28 countries earlier this month. A note sent to Peterson’s account
said YouTube had “received a legal complaint” about the video and decided to
block it.
The censors are at it again. No explanation
— and no reason: Why in the world would this be blocked? https://t.co/YMMw2BLPx8pic.twitter.com/xe7UnwPzGb
—
Jordan B Peterson (@jordanbpeterson) January 2, 2018
Here’s some more “explanation” for the
censorship: incitement of hatred, terrorist recruitment, incitement of
violence, celebration of terrorism. Even to fall briefly and erroneously into
such a category is a chilling event…. pic.twitter.com/F00kmIGXLX
—
Jordan B Peterson (@jordanbpeterson) January 2, 2018
Peterson
used his large social media following to push back, calling out YouTube on
Twitter, where he has more than 300,000 followers. YouTube reversed Peterson’s
block after another popular YouTuber, Ethan Klein, demanded an explanation on
Twitter, where he has more than 1 million followers. Although the original
notice said that YouTube was responding to a legal complaint, on Twitter the
company gave the impression that the block was erroneous.
Hi Ethan, this is fixed now, thanks for
bringing it to our attention!
—
Team YouTube (@TeamYouTube) January 2, 2018
The
overwhelming majority of the content policing on Google and YouTube is carried
out by algorithms. The algorithms make for an easy rebuttal against charges of
political bias: it’s not us, it’s the algorithm. But algorithms are designed by
people. As noted above, Google’s anonymous outside partners work closely with
the internal experts designing the algorithms. This close collaboration has
upsides, Google’s representatives say, pointing to advances in combatting
terrorist propaganda on the platform. But it also provides little transparency,
forcing users to take Google’s word that they’re being treated fairly.
YouTube’s
partnership with outside organizations to combat extremist content is just one
part of the company’s efforts to prioritize certain kinds of content over
others. YouTube also suppresses certain content through its “restricted” mode,
which screens out videos not suitable for children or containing “potentially
mature” content, as well as by demonetizing certain videos and channels,
cutting off the financial stream to their operators.
Prager
University, a conservative nonprofit that makes educational videos, sued Google
in October for both putting their content in restricted mode and demonetizing
it. Prager faces an uphill battle in court (as a private company, Google isn’t
bound by the First Amendment) but the lawsuit has forced Google to take public
positions on its censorship.
The
Google representative who spoke with TheDC said that it is the algorithms that
are responsible for placing videos in restricted mode. But in court documents reviewed
by TheDC, Google’s lawyers argued otherwise. “Decisions about which videos fall
into that category are often complicated and may involve difficult, subjective
judgment calls,” they argued in documents filed on Dec. 29.
In
her testimony before the Senate committee on Wednesday, Downs described some of
the steps Google has taken to suppress “offensive” or “inflammatory” content
that falls short of actual violent extremism.
“Some
borderline videos, such as those containing inflammatory religious or supremacist
content without a direct call to violence or a primary purpose of inciting
hatred, may not cross these lines for removal. But we understand that these
videos may be offensive to many and have developed a new treatment for them,”
she said.
“Identified
borderline content will remain on YouTube behind an interstitial, won’t be
recommended, won’t be monetized, and won’t have key features including
comments, suggested videos, and likes. Initial uses have been positive and have
shown a substantial reduction in watch time of those videos,” she added. (RELATED: Snopes, Which Will
Be Fact-Checking For Facebook, Employs Leftists Almost Exclusively)
YouTube’s
demonetization push, which is affecting some of the most popular non-leftist
political channels, is meant to accommodate advertisers who seek to avoid
controversial content, the Google spokesperson said.
Dave
Rubin, a popular YouTube host, has seen his videos repeatedly demonetized.
Rubin posted a video, “Socialism Isn’t Cool,” on Wednesday. The video was up a
little over 24 hours before YouTube demonetized it on Thursday.
And of course, @TeamYouTube has demonetized my video on
socialism. Guaranteed a critique of capitalism would’ve been just fine.
Join
us via Patreon/PayPal/Bitcoin: https://t.co/gwBcGofxFZpic.twitter.com/UqDX3uBZV0
—
Dave Rubin (@RubinReport) January 18, 2018
Hey @TeamYouTube, can you let me know which part
of this video isn’t advertiser friendly? Just trying to understand your
official policy! https://t.co/zSu6c7LWqt
—
Dave Rubin (@RubinReport) January 18, 2018
The
video was later remonetized, a Google representative told TheDC. But users
can’t recoup the advertising dollars they lost while their videos were
erroneously demonetized.
“I
suspect that there is some political bent to it but I don’t think it’s
necessarily a grand conspiracy against conservatives or anyone who’s not a
leftist. Part of the problem is their lack of transparency has created a
situation where none of us really know what’s going on,” Rubin told TheDC.
“Does it seem that it is more so affecting non-leftist channels? Yeah, it
does.”
