5 ms·

What exactly do you mean by "not that important"? Is it your position that if, say, YouTube took down all content that was in favor of Democrats, and pushed con

What exactly do you mean by "not that important"? Is it your position that if, say, YouTube took down all content that was in favor of Democrats, and pushed content that was in favor of Republicans to the front page, and put it all over recommendations, that there would be no impact to elections?

root_axis 7y ago
The impact would be negligible, not only because the YouTube demographic skews very young (i.e. people who don't vote), but also because most of the content on YouTube is not political content. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_most-subscribed_YouTube_channels https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_most-subscribed_YouTub... None of the top channels are political. Do you have any evidence to support the idea that YouTube is so important to politics that the government should step in to regulate it?
- HBKXNCUO 7y ago
  >The impact would be negligible, not only because the YouTube demographic skews very young (i.e. people who don't vote) Young people eventually grow up to vote. Are you suggesting that their impressionable young minds are uninfluenced by what they see on YouTube? >but also because most of the content on YouTube is not political content. OK, but there is still a whole lot of political content on there. >https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_most-subscribed_YouTub.. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_most-subscribed_YouTub.... The second to most subscribed channel is not political as its main function, but there is most definitely political content on there. >Do you have any evidence to support the idea that YouTube is so important to politics that the government should step in to regulate it? Do you have any evidence to support the idea that people speaking on soapboxes are so important to politics that the government should step in to prevent municipalities from regulating their messages? There are billions of views of political videos on YouTube. It's a place where many millions go to consume political content. People get angry when political content they agree with gets censored.
  - root_axis 7y ago
    > Are you suggesting that their impressionable young minds are uninfluenced by what they see on YouTube? They will be influenced by hundreds of factors, YouTube perhaps among them, but YouTube is not of any particular our outsized importance. > OK, but there is still a whole lot of political content on there. And? Political content exists on the bathroom stall as well, that doesn't mean it's important. > The second to most subscribed channel is not political as its main function, but there is most definitely political content on there. PewDiePie is not a political channel and is completely irrelevant with regard to politics. > Do you have any evidence to support the idea that people speaking on soapboxes are so important to politics that the government should step in to prevent municipalities from regulating their messages? What?
    - HBKXNCUO 7y ago
      >They will be influenced by hundreds of factors, YouTube perhaps among them, but YouTube is not of any particular our outsized importance. Outsized in comparison with what? >And? Political content exists on the bathroom stall as well, that doesn't mean it's important. Political videos on youtube have billions of views. >PewDiePie is not a political channel and is completely irrelevant with regard to politics. Like I said, not the main function of the channel, but there is certainly politically oriented content. Do you think his politically oriented content has no impact on the politics of his ~100 million audience? I believe you're either acting in bad faith on this topic, or are unaware of https://www.newsweek.com/pewdiepie-christchurch-shooting-mosque-meme-subscribe-1365275 https://www.newsweek.com/pewdiepie-christchurch-shooting-mos...
      - root_axis 7y ago
        > Outsized in comparison with what? With any of the other hundreds of platforms that cater to political discussion. > Political videos on youtube have billions of views So what? I'm not suggesting that YouTube isn't popular, I'm saying that just because its popular doesn't mean YouTube should be prohibited from curating it's own platform. > Do you think his politically oriented content has no impact on the politics of his ~100 million audience? The impact is negligible. Nobody cares what PewDiePie thinks when they enter the voting booth. And even if they did, it's YouTube's prerogative to kick off whoever they want, and if they decided to kick off PewDiePie... who cares? YouTube drama isn't important.

root_axis 7y ago

The impact would be negligible, not only because the YouTube demographic skews very young (i.e. people who don't vote), but also because most of the content on YouTube is not political content. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_most-subscribed_YouTube_channels https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_most-subscribed_YouTub... None of the top channels are political. Do you have any evidence to support the idea that YouTube is so important to politics that the government should step in to regulate it?

HBKXNCUO 7y ago
>The impact would be negligible, not only because the YouTube demographic skews very young (i.e. people who don't vote) Young people eventually grow up to vote. Are you suggesting that their impressionable young minds are uninfluenced by what they see on YouTube? >but also because most of the content on YouTube is not political content. OK, but there is still a whole lot of political content on there. >https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_most-subscribed_YouTub.. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_most-subscribed_YouTub.... The second to most subscribed channel is not political as its main function, but there is most definitely political content on there. >Do you have any evidence to support the idea that YouTube is so important to politics that the government should step in to regulate it? Do you have any evidence to support the idea that people speaking on soapboxes are so important to politics that the government should step in to prevent municipalities from regulating their messages? There are billions of views of political videos on YouTube. It's a place where many millions go to consume political content. People get angry when political content they agree with gets censored.
- root_axis 7y ago
  > Are you suggesting that their impressionable young minds are uninfluenced by what they see on YouTube? They will be influenced by hundreds of factors, YouTube perhaps among them, but YouTube is not of any particular our outsized importance. > OK, but there is still a whole lot of political content on there. And? Political content exists on the bathroom stall as well, that doesn't mean it's important. > The second to most subscribed channel is not political as its main function, but there is most definitely political content on there. PewDiePie is not a political channel and is completely irrelevant with regard to politics. > Do you have any evidence to support the idea that people speaking on soapboxes are so important to politics that the government should step in to prevent municipalities from regulating their messages? What?
  - HBKXNCUO 7y ago
    >They will be influenced by hundreds of factors, YouTube perhaps among them, but YouTube is not of any particular our outsized importance. Outsized in comparison with what? >And? Political content exists on the bathroom stall as well, that doesn't mean it's important. Political videos on youtube have billions of views. >PewDiePie is not a political channel and is completely irrelevant with regard to politics. Like I said, not the main function of the channel, but there is certainly politically oriented content. Do you think his politically oriented content has no impact on the politics of his ~100 million audience? I believe you're either acting in bad faith on this topic, or are unaware of https://www.newsweek.com/pewdiepie-christchurch-shooting-mosque-meme-subscribe-1365275 https://www.newsweek.com/pewdiepie-christchurch-shooting-mos...
    - root_axis 7y ago
      > Outsized in comparison with what? With any of the other hundreds of platforms that cater to political discussion. > Political videos on youtube have billions of views So what? I'm not suggesting that YouTube isn't popular, I'm saying that just because its popular doesn't mean YouTube should be prohibited from curating it's own platform. > Do you think his politically oriented content has no impact on the politics of his ~100 million audience? The impact is negligible. Nobody cares what PewDiePie thinks when they enter the voting booth. And even if they did, it's YouTube's prerogative to kick off whoever they want, and if they decided to kick off PewDiePie... who cares? YouTube drama isn't important.