Tag Archives: YouTube

Axios reports: YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki apologized Monday to members of the LGBTQ community who were offended by the company’s response to antigay comments by Steven Crowder aimed at Vox journalist Carlos Maza. At the same time, she defended the company’s handling of the issue. YouTube has been under fire for a variety of issues, including the spread of hate …

The Daily Beast reports: YouTube unleashed massive confusion and satisfied apparently no one with its handling of Steven Crowder’s homophobic campaign against a gay journalist on Wednesday. The company will “demonetize” Crowder, a far-right performer, for harassing Vox reporter Carlos Maza. The announcement was a partial reversal from Tuesday, when YouTube said it would not take action against Crowder. After …

Vox reports: YouTube is finally banning content that promotes white supremacist views on its video platform. But it will still permit videos it classifies as “borderline,” which isn’t clearly defined, as well as a host of other problematic content. The Google-owned platform said on Wednesday that it’s updating its hate speech policy to prohibit “videos alleging that a group is …

The Washington Post reports: Carlos Maza, a video producer for the news site Vox, said the harassment began about two years ago. Steven Crowder [screenshot above], a right-wing commentator and comedian, had begun to call out Maza’s sexuality and his race — Maza is gay and Latino — in some of his videos on YouTube. And last week, Maza said, …

Media Matters reports: Although YouTube has banned several channels associated with conspiracy theorist Alex Jones’ Infowars site, the outlet still maintains a secondary channel and is using it to claim that the the mass shootings at two New Zealand mosques were “false flag” attacks. While YouTube banned Jones’ primary account in August 2018 and banned some related Infowars channels in …

YouTube star Randy Rainbow is back today with another song parody, this time set to the tune of “I’m In Love With A Wonderful Guy” from Rodgers and Hammerstein’s 1949 classic musical, South Pacific. Some of you may recall Mitzi Gaynor’s take on the song in the 1958 movie version. As always, I won’t give away the clever lines, just …

The BBC reports: YouTube says it will switch off comments on almost all videos featuring under-18s, in an attempt to “better protect children and families.” Several brands stopped advertising on YouTube after discovering that pedophiles were leaving predatory comments on videos of children. YouTube had originally disabled comments on videos that were attracting predatory and obscene comments. But it will …

Buzzfeed News reports: YouTube on Friday said it would prevent channels that promote anti-vax content from running advertising, saying explicitly that such videos fall under its policy prohibiting the monetization of videos with “dangerous and harmful” content. The move comes after advertisers on YouTube pulled their ads from these videos, following inquiries from BuzzFeed News. “We have strict policies that …

The New York Times reports: Nestlé, Epic Games and other major brands said on Wednesday that they had stopped buying advertisements on YouTube after their ads appeared on children’s videos where pedophiles had infiltrated the comment sections. The companies acted after a YouTube user posted a video this week to point out this behavior. For the most part, the videos …

Forbes reports: In an official blog post published January 25th about YouTube’s changes to its recommendation algorithm, the Google-owned company announced they would be cracking down on conspiracy-laden videos and other “borderline content”… by ceasing to list them in the “Up Next” sidebar. Examples listed of content no longer being recommended included 9/11 truther documentaries, flat earth conspiracy videos and …

Mashable reports: YouTube has toughened its stance on dangerous pranks and challenges. While silly antics are a prevalent part of the video platform’s culture, a spate of troubling incidents from the Bird Box challenge, the fire challenge, and the Tide Pod challenge has spurred YouTube into action. YouTube has unveiled updated community guidelines for creators, with a new section on …

Variety reports: YouTube has released its annual Rewind video highlighting 2018’s biggest viral events, trends, and more. Epic Games’ battle royale phenomenon “Fortnite” features prominently in the montage. The video begins with Will Smith wishing for a mashup of “Fortnite” and technology-focused YouTuber Marques Brownlee. Cut to a Battle Bus full of YouTube personalities (Ninja is driving, naturally). They parachute …

Viral YouTube star Randy Rainbow is back today with his own take on a “get out the vote” message, this time riffing on What Is This Feeling? from Wicked. Special appearances by Hair Furor and Sarah Huckleberry Sanders. As always, no spoilers, just watch and enjoy.

Viral YouTube star Randy Rainbow was busy this weekend with his latest number, If You Ever Got Impeached, which is set to the tune Harold Arlen and Yip Harburg’s classic If I Only Had A Brain from The Wizard Of Oz. As always, I won’t give away any of the jokes but you’ll definitely enjoy Randy’s inventive rhymes.

NBC News reports: YouTube has removed Alex Jones’ page, following bans earlier Monday from Apple and Facebook. The Alex Jones Channel, which counts 2.4 million subscribers, still appeared in YouTube search results by midday Monday, but presented only a take-down notice when users clicked in. “This account has been terminated for violating YouTube’s Community Guidelines,” the notice says. YouTube counts …

The Verge reports: Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones’ YouTube channel received a strike on Tuesday for violating the site’s community guidelines, The Verge has learned. YouTube removed four videos from Jones’ channel, which has 2.4 million subscribers, that contained instances of hate speech and child endangerment, sources familiar with the matter said. YouTube channels are deleted if they get three strikes …

YouTube star Randy Rainbow is back today with another hilarious rip on Glorious Leader, this time set to Gilbert and Sullivan’s classic patter song, I Am The Very Model Of A Modern Major-General, from their 1879 opera, The Pirates Of Penzance. As always I won’t give away any of the jokes, but you’ll definitely enjoy Randy’s inventive rhymes.

ABC News reports: A Georgia GOP gubernatorial candidate’s ad featuring a “Deportation Bus” has been removed from YouTube for violating its policy on hate speech. The ad was taken down Wednesday. Michael Williams, former state co-chair for Donald Trump’s presidential campaign says in the ad that his bus will send undocumented immigrants “home.” Williams is bringing the bus to what …

Gizmodo reports: Google is well aware that YouTube is the internet’s biggest time suck, sending users down endless rabbit holes of related videos. Now, as part of the company’s apparent newfound interest in digital well-being, it’s introducing a feature that will encourage people to step away from the endless stream of videos—but only if they opt into it. The new …

NPR reports: A Danish citizen in Malaysia has pleaded guilty to maliciously publishing fake news by posting a YouTube video critical of police, making him the first person punished under the country’s new, controversial Anti-Fake News Act. Salah Salem Saleh Sulaiman, 46, is a citizen of Denmark. He posted on YouTube on April 21, after a Palestinian lecturer was shot …