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Au contraire, I think the effect that advertisers have on what can and can't be said via popular channels is something we should all care about. It's easy to s

Au contraire, I think the effect that advertisers have on what can and can't be said via popular channels is something we should all care about. It's easy to say, "Just stop advertising," but producing valuable content is expensive. Advertiser-funded outlets are at a tremendous financial advantage, and that translates directly into higher viewership. Consequently, we get the vast majority of our news, information, and opinions from advertiser-funded institutions. Furthermore, the majority of advertising dollars come from clients who share similar attributes with each other (rich, corporate, favoring the status quo, etc.), so their perspectives and agendas tend to align. The result is that contradictory perspectives are pushed to the sidelines, no matter how correct, logical, popular, or morally superior they may be. The fact that people aren't allowed to discuss war on YouTube is something we should all be concerned about. It's de facto propaganda. This applies to more traditional media, too, not just the internet. There are all sorts of topics that advertisers won't "allow" even the mainstream media to dwell on for too long.

paulsutter 9y ago
If there is significant amounts of content that has been overzealously blocked by google, then there are advertisers that want access to that (currently) lower-valued inventory. The value of that inventory should normalize based on the number of advertisers who want access to it. If YouTube doesn't make it available to those advertisers who would accept it, someone else should. That is, if there is (a) enough inventory and (b) enough advertisers (and if not it's an immaterial issue) Keep in mind that what's material to Google is significantly larger than what may be material for a small company. Google is focused on finding their next $10B in revenue.
endgame 9y ago
Agreed: http://sealedabstract.com/rants/re-xkcd-1357-free-speech/ http://sealedabstract.com/rants/re-xkcd-1357-free-speech/
frgtpsswrdlame 9y ago
On the other hand, it also does a good job of removing what I might call accidental propaganda. Most youtube videos are not even skin deep, running off of one article in the news they read, and some youtube person is going to have almost no real understanding when making a video about Syria for example. By removing the people who are only there to drive clicks and revenues, I can probably get better results when I search for a serious topic. Maybe some topics should be left to pure enthusiasts.
- sillysaurus3 9y ago
  This is an oversimplification of the issue. Some videos to illustrate: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tn46t8NksX0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tn46t8NksX0 - h3h3 "We're at an Important Crossroad" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=03dTJ4nXkXw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=03dTJ4nXkXw - 2veritasium "Why YouTube Used to Prefer Quality" In particular, consider the thought experiment presented in the second video: If YouTube's algorithm solely promoted car videos, then car videos would be all that are uploaded to YouTube. The algorithm is the content. Even though it happens to align with what you like right now, the bias should be concerning.
  - simias 9y ago
    >If YouTube's algorithm solely promoted car videos, then car videos would be all that are uploaded to YouTube. That's assuming that people only upload videos on Youtube to monetize them. Given that uploading videos is basically free I'm sure there'd be no shortage of non-car videos. Actually if I recall correctly youtube didn't have any monetization for many years when it started? What you'd probably lose is high production value original content, although I suspect that many of those content producers might still break even if they have other ways to monetize their content.
- whatshisface 9y ago
  Removing accidental propaganda... To leave only intentional, engineered propaganda?
owebmaster 9y ago
It is up to you find people to support your opinion. If what you want to say is important but not commercially to youtube, use the internet. There is no lock in.

paulsutter 9y ago

If there is significant amounts of content that has been overzealously blocked by google, then there are advertisers that want access to that (currently) lower-valued inventory. The value of that inventory should normalize based on the number of advertisers who want access to it. If YouTube doesn't make it available to those advertisers who would accept it, someone else should. That is, if there is (a) enough inventory and (b) enough advertisers (and if not it's an immaterial issue) Keep in mind that what's material to Google is significantly larger than what may be material for a small company. Google is focused on finding their next $10B in revenue.

endgame 9y ago

Agreed: http://sealedabstract.com/rants/re-xkcd-1357-free-speech/ http://sealedabstract.com/rants/re-xkcd-1357-free-speech/

frgtpsswrdlame 9y ago

On the other hand, it also does a good job of removing what I might call accidental propaganda. Most youtube videos are not even skin deep, running off of one article in the news they read, and some youtube person is going to have almost no real understanding when making a video about Syria for example. By removing the people who are only there to drive clicks and revenues, I can probably get better results when I search for a serious topic. Maybe some topics should be left to pure enthusiasts.

sillysaurus3 9y ago
This is an oversimplification of the issue. Some videos to illustrate: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tn46t8NksX0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tn46t8NksX0 - h3h3 "We're at an Important Crossroad" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=03dTJ4nXkXw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=03dTJ4nXkXw - 2veritasium "Why YouTube Used to Prefer Quality" In particular, consider the thought experiment presented in the second video: If YouTube's algorithm solely promoted car videos, then car videos would be all that are uploaded to YouTube. The algorithm is the content. Even though it happens to align with what you like right now, the bias should be concerning.
- simias 9y ago
  >If YouTube's algorithm solely promoted car videos, then car videos would be all that are uploaded to YouTube. That's assuming that people only upload videos on Youtube to monetize them. Given that uploading videos is basically free I'm sure there'd be no shortage of non-car videos. Actually if I recall correctly youtube didn't have any monetization for many years when it started? What you'd probably lose is high production value original content, although I suspect that many of those content producers might still break even if they have other ways to monetize their content.
whatshisface 9y ago
Removing accidental propaganda... To leave only intentional, engineered propaganda?

owebmaster 9y ago

It is up to you find people to support your opinion. If what you want to say is important but not commercially to youtube, use the internet. There is no lock in.