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YouTube's global head of content policy, Chris Libertelli, was working on their new hate speech policy when I interviewed him in April. We talked about where to draw the line and I think it's worth sharing his comments [THREAD] 1/ nytimes.com/2019/06/05/bus…
"From Susan [Wojcicki] to Neal [Mohan] to everyone on down...it is an active area of discussion about where that line should be... The balance of free expression versus community protection is something that is talked about multiple times a day, every day in my job." 2/
[YouTube's content policy chief in April]: "Whether [the line] should move a lot or a little depends on the subcategory of the content that we're talking about. Should change happen? I think there's a sense that yes, there should be some change in the way we think about it" 3/
[cont'd from YouTube's head of content policy] "The direction I've been given from senior leaders is that there are no sacred cows, that we're gonna go after rethinking everything that informs our judgment about where the line should be." 4/
As at FB, YouTube consults with experts as it shapes policies. On hate speech, Chris L. cited this paper by @beccalew & others @datasociety datasociety.net/output/alterna… One of Becca's key arguments is that limiting reach is simply not enough. You have to ban some people 5/
"We think about," Chris L. said, "Where's the line? Where's that whole hate-speech line?" And: "Whatever that line is will create this adjacency [of people not banned]. And it's in that adjacency that the discovery mechanisms can be useful in directing people in the right way" 6/
Finally, on prioritizing $$, Libertelli, who had been at YouTube 9 months when we spoke, had this to say: "You can think about everything that I propose as costing the company money. And nobody has ever said to me, 'Don't do that because of the-', it just never comes up." 7/
Still, it was clear from my discussions with YouTube execs, including CEO Susan Wojcicki, that there will be no fundamental rethink of the platform. They prioritize free expression, and don't intend to try to align content with a certain set of values 8/
This is Wojcicki when I asked about whether YouTube would conform to certain values: "We want to draw the line in a way that is beneficial to society. Again, you have to realize we're accused of left bias, right bias, all these different biases..." 9/
More Wojcicki: "We do not want to have any bias in our system, but on the other hand, we do want to take a hard line if we see content that we think is causing a problem for society." (Seems to me it's impossible to be objectively unbiased unless you allow everything) 10/
Meanwhile YouTube is determined to be very deliberate about its approach. Execs don't exhibit nearly the same sense of urgency or despair that critics do. They process a problem that is very urgent to individuals in broad philosophical terms: what answer works at scale? 11/
That means that at scale, YouTube will be constantly in the position of reacting to new crises and scandals, as well as head-scratching decisions like the choice not to shut down the harasser of @gaywonk. 12/
YouTube execs also don't seem nearly proactive enough about hunting for problems on the platform. Partly I got the sense they are focused on contending with the many fires they already know about (read: are told about by media/activists), and are not eager to find new ones. 13/
These execs know the 1st Amendment does not apply to YouTube. But for a long time it was beneficial to them to act as if it does. They do worry about being the referee of speech. It's an impossible job. Yet clearly they already are, and will continue to be, like it or not. 14/
The combination of these elements -- deliberateness, lack of proactive thinking, reluctance to referee -- combine to ensure YouTube will always be on its back foot in dealing with toxic content. It's hard to imagine how that changes without serious regulatory intervention 15/
For more background you can read my briefing on YouTube: economist.com/briefing/2019/… or hear my thoughts and some of my Susan Wojcicki interview here: podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/eve… 16/
