Thread by @slpng_giants

1/ “Until recently, Webb said, his YouTube videos included advertisements -- meaning the platform, which is owned by Google, was making money from Webb's misinformation, as was Webb himself.”

.@YouTube has monetized harassment and there’s no recourse for its victims. None.

https://twitter.com/donie/status/1254725862752124928

2/ Matt here. I have now had two personal friends become victims of @YouTube conspiracies. They’ve received tons of death threats, had to change their numbers and even move out of their homes for a little while. They were powerless to stop it.

Yet, @youtube *profited* from it.

3/ Our current laws are not set up to deal with what our social media platforms are doing to private citizens.

@youtube @facebook and @twitter are indemnified from any legal recourse for people’s lives being turned upside down as a result of their lax moderation standards.

4/ With no regulation and virtual monopolies, there’s nothing we can do as private citizens to stop them. Even if we leave the platforms, it doesn’t stop any of us from being featured on them in conspiracy videos or being harassed in real life. I’ve been there myself.

5/ Platforms like @youtube need accountability. When their business models are antithetical to any sort of responsibility, we need a regulatory body to step up and hold them responsible for the loss of privacy and safety of its users and private citizens.

END/ We need our more tech-saavy government officials to create a framework to hold platforms to a new standard and we need it soon.

Please tag any congresspeople on this thread you think might help.

We would like to be part of the solution.