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This isn't surprising to anyone who has paid attention to YouTube's growth strategy & lack of moral compass. But it's still shocking.
Milton Friedman famously argued in 1970 that “The Social Responsibility of Business Is to Increase Its Profits” (the title of his article). In Friedman's terms, YouTube is being social responsible by allow Nazis & pedophiles to form communities on social media.
Let's take Friedman on his own terms & say that, given their mission to maximize profit, it's ethical for corporations to destroy the environment, spread Nazism & kiddie porn. In other words: business can have no real ethics, so the state has an obligation to regulate.
Friedman's “The Social Responsibility of Business Is to Increase Its Profits” is actually a useful & true axiom; it dispels the illusions of morally decent businesses and philanthropy. It clarifies why a robust social democracy is the only way forward.
