?To: _August Abolins 1:153/757.21_--
?Subj: Youtube banning vaccine misinformation?

On one hand I want to cheer that they are banning vaccine misinformation but on the other, I'm not a big fan of censorship in any form.

That having been said, Youtube is a private company owned by Google and they are not a government entity or news organization so they can do whatever they want.

While it will never happen with most people, I expect them to actually vet any information they come across on the Internet.
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Hi Richard,

On 2021-09-29 19:22:56, you wrote to All:

On one hand I want to cheer that they are banning vaccine
misinformation but on the other, I'm not a big fan of censorship in
any form.

They could have chosen to just mark those vids as misinformation.

That having been said, Youtube is a private company owned by Google
and they are not a government entity or news organization so they can
do whatever they want.

No they can't, they have to stick to the law.

And who are those people that make the judgement on the videos? Are they medical professionals? Is there an appeal procedure?

Bye, Wilfred.
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On 29 Sep 2021, Wilfred van Velzen said the following...

They could have chosen to just mark those vids as misinformation.

Agreed. I prefer this approach.

No they can't, they have to stick to the law.

Depends on the country I guess. In the US, they are sticking to the law. Censorship and the first amendment apply to federal, state and local government, not private companies. Those private companies can still be sued or face other consequences such as loss of business, etc.

Personally I'm in favor of restricting corporate censorship but for now they are entirely within the law here. In the long run I think that businesses such as Facebook and Youtube, that are allowed to censor stuff, bleed over into public policy.

Where does the line get drawn though?

Child pornography? Rape videos, vaccine misinformation, racist videos?

And who are those people that make the judgement on the videos? Are they medical professionals? Is there an appeal procedure?

I seriously doubt it (about being medical professionals). As far as I know it can be appealed. Youtube, for instance, allows for appealing it. As far as I know so do the other social media platforms. I don't use them enough to really know the correct answer for that.

-=>Richard Miles<=-
-=>Captain Obvious<=-
-=>bbs.shadowscope.com<=-

... The flush toilet is the basis of western civilization.
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Hello Wilfred van Velzen!

** On Wednesday 29.09.21 - 19:13, Wilfred van Velzen wrote to Richard Miles:

That having been said, Youtube is a private company owned
by Google and they are not a government entity or news
organization so they can do whatever they want.

No they can't, they have to stick to the law.

And who are those people that make the judgement on the
videos? Are they medical professionals? Is there an
appeal procedure?

Good point. It wouldn't be any different if someone asked me
about some medical info; they could just turn around and
discredit it by saying that I am not a med doctor, so why
should they listen to me.

--
../|ug
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Hi Richard,

On 2021-09-29 13:34:40, you wrote to me:

No they can't, they have to stick to the law.

Depends on the country I guess.

Of course. And they are all over the world, which makes it complicated for them.

In the US, they are sticking to the law. Censorship and the first amendment apply to federal, state and local government, not private companies. Those private companies can still be sued or face other consequences such as loss of business, etc.

Personally I'm in favor of restricting corporate censorship but for now they are entirely within the law here. In the long run I think that businesses such as Facebook and Youtube, that are allowed to censor stuff, bleed over into public policy.

There should be extra rules for these big companies that play a big role in society.

Where does the line get drawn though?

Child pornography? Rape videos, vaccine misinformation, racist videos?

There shouldn't be a line at all for the companies. When you will leave that to these companies. they will do it wrong. Because their motive is making money, not doing the right thing (whatever that may be). You should leave it to the judicial system.

Maybe there could be teams of special trained cops, with special access to facebook, youtube, and the like, who check for illegal content. They should be payed for by taxes payed by these companies.

And who are those people that make the judgement on the videos? Are
they medical professionals? Is there an appeal procedure?

I seriously doubt it (about being medical professionals).

They are expensive, so I also seriously doubt that. These companies will do this as cheaply as they can get away with. So if they can do it with mediocre AI, and not people they will. And you get what you pay for...

As far as I know it can be appealed. Youtube, for instance, allows for appealing it. As far as I know so do the other social media platforms.
I don't use them enough to really know the correct answer for that.

But how they handle these appeals is probably a secret...

Bye, Wilfred.
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