tslovelace1@gmail.com / tl915117@ohio.edu
If you regularly watch content on YouTube, you may have noticed some very intentional changes in the way that people talk about ongoing events in the past few months. This very complex, emotional, and sensitive topic of the Coronavirus pandemic has been confusing for many people and governments since it took the world by surprise earlier this year. To help curb the very toxic environment of misinformation and conspiracy that has run rampant (often burying the accurate news), YouTube has implemented more machine learning to counteract the lessened number of employees working. These algorithms have very stringent settings that filter out undesirable content and prevent these types of things from cluttering their platform or benefiting those that produce such content.
These regulations have had some very clear downfalls. YouTube has implemented a solution that would help strengthen its code of ethics in the best way possible due to the circumstances. These systems help investigate truthfulness and accuracy while also aiding in correcting erroneous communications that could be spread on their platform - potentially leading to negative business and issues with stockholders. This system is dicey, but it is the best possible solution that they could have. A representative from YouTube helped explain some of these changes and what they mean for the community, including how they seem to be benefiting one side more than another.
There are deeper meanings to these changes that may not seem that big of a deal on the surface. YouTube heavily relies on a monetization model where ad revenue is shared with the creator of the content based on the number of views and interactions the video has. With the machine learning dealing with flagging and demonetizing any videos that could be seen as harmful content, the terms "COVID-19", "Coronavirus", and many other specific terms to the pandemic have been deemed as harmful. This has the one benefit of helping keep good, accurate information at the front and potential misinformation at the back, but it also affects anyone explaining how their channels have been impacted and how they have been impacted. This places a barrier on their livelihood, even though they are not trying to report on the pandemic or claim to be medical professionals. OneZero writes about how some creators, who are medical professionals with consistent followings have been defunded and it is hurting their ability to stay afloat. A YouTuber that I follow reports on the movie box office weekly and notices trends and talks about upcoming news with cinema. He has had to skirt around the topic when discussing the state of the world in order to maintain his channel and still keep the conversation relevant to the times that we are in.
Dan Murrell skates around the Coronavirus as he discusses the state of the worldwide box office and how the virus has effected the injury. Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eb6stDIcoqw
This is a very complex subject, and there are benefits and detractions on both sides, but these safeguards meant to keep ethical communication at the forefront have in turn restricted the ability to create diversified, accurate, and competitive information on their platform. This goes to show that even when following ethical guidelines, they can be broken in unintentional ways.
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