4 ms·

A WWII documentary series is being demonetized by YouTube [video]

74 points by comeonbro 3y ago

comeonbro 3y ago
'World War Two' is an enormous documentary project that's been following WWII week-by-week in ~real-time for the past 5 years. Its content is increasingly being age-restricted and demonetized by YouTube.
- extraduder_ire 3y ago
  The D-day hour-by-hour 24 hour coverage was great, even if it took me a few weeks to watch all of it. Still need to watch the Pearl Harbor videos.
- cbm-vic-20 3y ago
  The "War Against Humanity" subseries is chilling. This is such an important project.
nextworddev 3y ago
What’s the background behind this?
- refurb 3y ago
  Their video says the EU passed a new law restricting some content to mature audiences only, so Youtube is calling their WW2 series "mature content" and restricting it on Youtube (it you need to verify you are old enough) which means that viewership goes down (as the videos aren't recommended) and sponsorship revenue goes way down since advertisers don't want to put ads on restricted content.
barelysapient 3y ago
The video mentions an exception for educational content. Fine, but who decides what is educational? What about some of the truly horrific WW2 content. Is that educational? Hard to blame YouTube for being very cautious here.
- manuelmoreale 3y ago
  Isn’t learning history educational? And yes, some history is horrific but I don’t see the problem with that. I was in elementary school when we took a field trip to see a ww2 concentration camp. Was that appropriate for our age? Hard to say. Did I still remember it all these years later? Yes. Was it educational? Also yes.
  - ianai 3y ago
    (US) I think every year in public school for me included a WWII/Holocaust remembrance period. I think across both literature/English and history classes. Seems like public education doesn’t do that anymore. And society is much worse off.
    - manuelmoreale 3y ago
      I’m in northern Italy. Traces of those wars are literally everywhere. One of the largest war memorials is near here [0] Learning history is important. And it’s educational. And if to learn it you have to see something gruesome, so be it. [0] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Redipuglia_War_Memorial https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Redipuglia_War_Memorial
      - ianai 3y ago
        And of course we must avoid presentism https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Presentism_(literary_and_historical_analysis) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Presentism_(literary_and_histo... History is many things including terrible and gruesome. But ignorance of history is no answer.
  - barelysapient 3y ago
    I like your example because its a specific, physical place. Probably part of a syllabus for your class. And hard to argue that, in this context, a profound and educational experience. Now contrast that with online 'educational' content. That's way to vague. One could argue that really just about _anything_ is educational. But that same thing in the eyes of another person is pornography, extreme violence, or a hate crime. Take executions. There's footage of illegal executions in Word War 2, and recently with ISIS. Are both of those educational? Maybe with the right context and in a curriculum, sure. But gosh, sure seems it should at least be age restricted on Youtube. I think we have two choices to fix this: First, if the regulators want an educational carve out they need to get incredibly clear what is and is not educational. Or, barring that, then lets create an "educational" platform that can host this sort of content. You know, like OnlyFans, but for "educational" topics.
penjelly 3y ago
this guy covers wars "in real time". Really cool videos
refurb 3y ago
For anyone interested in WW2 history, the "World War Two" channel is a must watch. I actually look forward to a new release each week. They do a fantastic job of covering the war in a detailed way and do a very good job of digging into the historical record to cover it accurately. If I were an educator covering WW2, it would be an amazing free resource.
RecycledEle 3y ago
Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it. Those who censor history are trying to repeat it.

74 points by comeonbro 3y ago

'World War Two' is an enormous documentary project that's been following WWII week-by-week in ~real-time for the past 5 years. Its content is increasingly being age-restricted and demonetized by YouTube.

extraduder_ire 3y ago
The D-day hour-by-hour 24 hour coverage was great, even if it took me a few weeks to watch all of it. Still need to watch the Pearl Harbor videos.
cbm-vic-20 3y ago
The "War Against Humanity" subseries is chilling. This is such an important project.

nextworddev 3y ago

What’s the background behind this?

refurb 3y ago
Their video says the EU passed a new law restricting some content to mature audiences only, so Youtube is calling their WW2 series "mature content" and restricting it on Youtube (it you need to verify you are old enough) which means that viewership goes down (as the videos aren't recommended) and sponsorship revenue goes way down since advertisers don't want to put ads on restricted content.

barelysapient 3y ago

The video mentions an exception for educational content. Fine, but who decides what is educational? What about some of the truly horrific WW2 content. Is that educational? Hard to blame YouTube for being very cautious here.

manuelmoreale 3y ago
Isn’t learning history educational? And yes, some history is horrific but I don’t see the problem with that. I was in elementary school when we took a field trip to see a ww2 concentration camp. Was that appropriate for our age? Hard to say. Did I still remember it all these years later? Yes. Was it educational? Also yes.
- ianai 3y ago
  (US) I think every year in public school for me included a WWII/Holocaust remembrance period. I think across both literature/English and history classes. Seems like public education doesn’t do that anymore. And society is much worse off.
  - manuelmoreale 3y ago
    I’m in northern Italy. Traces of those wars are literally everywhere. One of the largest war memorials is near here [0] Learning history is important. And it’s educational. And if to learn it you have to see something gruesome, so be it. [0] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Redipuglia_War_Memorial https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Redipuglia_War_Memorial
    - ianai 3y ago
      And of course we must avoid presentism https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Presentism_(literary_and_historical_analysis) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Presentism_(literary_and_histo... History is many things including terrible and gruesome. But ignorance of history is no answer.
- barelysapient 3y ago
  I like your example because its a specific, physical place. Probably part of a syllabus for your class. And hard to argue that, in this context, a profound and educational experience. Now contrast that with online 'educational' content. That's way to vague. One could argue that really just about _anything_ is educational. But that same thing in the eyes of another person is pornography, extreme violence, or a hate crime. Take executions. There's footage of illegal executions in Word War 2, and recently with ISIS. Are both of those educational? Maybe with the right context and in a curriculum, sure. But gosh, sure seems it should at least be age restricted on Youtube. I think we have two choices to fix this: First, if the regulators want an educational carve out they need to get incredibly clear what is and is not educational. Or, barring that, then lets create an "educational" platform that can host this sort of content. You know, like OnlyFans, but for "educational" topics.

penjelly 3y ago

this guy covers wars "in real time". Really cool videos

refurb 3y ago

For anyone interested in WW2 history, the "World War Two" channel is a must watch. I actually look forward to a new release each week. They do a fantastic job of covering the war in a detailed way and do a very good job of digging into the historical record to cover it accurately. If I were an educator covering WW2, it would be an amazing free resource.

RecycledEle 3y ago

Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it. Those who censor history are trying to repeat it.