YouTube CEO Vows To Censor “Hate Speech” and Boost “Authoritative Sources” in Recommendations When People Look for Election News in 2024

If you’re tired of censorship and dystopian threats against civil liberties, subscribe to Reclaim The Net. YouTube CEO Neal Mohan has a post up on the company blog just in time to, well in advance, reiterate the giant platform’s policies regarding the upcoming elections. Even though Mohan’s “letter” is supposed to deal with the “four big bets for 2024,” the bit concerning the elections is of most interest, given the ramifications of YouTube’s previous and continued restrictive approach and unprecedented levels of censorship. Just in case anyone worried things might improve, the post reassures them: YouTube will use its massive resources and the way the platform is structured, such as search and recommendations, to wipe out what it chooses to consider “hate speech” and at the same time “boost authoritative sources” even more. Related: Microsoft CEO Says the Company Is Working To Address Election “Disinformation and Misinformation” This will be done when users search for topics related to the elections. Mohan spends a good while talking up the importance of creators and how YouTube intends to make their YouTube businesses even better. But there is one glaring failure by omission in this pitch: explaining what happens to creators and their content and channels, often built for years, when they cross the sometimes invisible censorship line drawn by Google’s video behemoth. What happens is demonetization, deplatforming – “disappearing.” Finally Mohan addresses (obviously not framing it that way) how the censorship machine – the one responsible for destroying many creators – works when…YouTube CEO Vows To Censor “Hate Speech” and Boost “Authoritative Sources” in Recommendations When People Look for Election News in 2024