YouTube: Difference between revisions
SinexTitan (talk | contribs) →Advertising overload on YouTube: added the bots issue, feel free to tidy up if need be |
→Demonetization and censorship: Changed punctuation, clarified "transgender" instead of "trans" for viewers that may not recognize the shortened word |
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===Demonetization and censorship<!-- Maybe consider changing the title for this section... --><!-- Potential sources that require further studying before integration https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1877050921024467 https://dl.acm.org/doi/abs/10.1145/3555209 -->=== | ===Demonetization and censorship<!-- Maybe consider changing the title for this section... --><!-- Potential sources that require further studying before integration https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1877050921024467 https://dl.acm.org/doi/abs/10.1145/3555209 -->=== | ||
Since at least 2016, YouTube has had an extensive record of censoring content that is demonetized.<ref name=":4" /><ref name=":1" /> Within understandable circumstances, legitimately malicious or offensive videos would be demonetized and should not be shown on the platform | Since at least 2016, YouTube has had an extensive record of censoring content that is demonetized.<ref name=":4" /><ref name=":1" /> Within understandable circumstances, legitimately malicious or offensive videos would be demonetized and should not be shown on the platform; however, how videos are considered to be demonetized has had a harmful impact upon both viewers and content creators. Transgender creators on YouTube, for example, have experienced unfair censorship via demonetization since 2018.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Disney |first=Malia |date=4 May 2018 |title=Trans YouTubers Say They Are Being Censored. Is It The Algorithm? |url=https://archive.yr.media/journalism/outloud/trans-youtubers-say-they-are-being-censored-and-an-algorithm-may-be-to-blame/ |url-status=live |access-date=5 Apr 2025 |website=archive.yr.media}}</ref> Content creators affected by this unfairly balanced moderation via algorithms<ref>{{Cite web |last=Cantz |first=Randy |date=1 May 2018 |title=Adpocalypse: How YouTube Demonetization Imperils the Future of Free Speech |url=https://bpr.studentorg.berkeley.edu/2018/05/01/adpocalypse-how-youtube-demonetization-imperils-the-future-of-free-speech/ |url-status=live |access-date=5 Apr 2025 |website=Berkeley Political Review}}</ref> have dubbed these events as "adpocalypses".<ref>{{Cite web |last=Alexander |first=Julia |date=20 Feb 2019 |title=YouTubers fear looming ‘adpocalypse’ after child exploitation controversy |url=https://www.theverge.com/2019/2/20/18231561/youtube-child-exploitation-predators-controversy-creators-adpocalypse |url-status=live |access-date=5 Apr 2025 |website=The Verge}}</ref> | ||
====Irresponsibly automated moderation==== | ====Irresponsibly automated moderation==== | ||
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Another feature like this is the inclusion of irrelevant videos in search results. If the user searches for something and scrolls down the list too far, the likelihood of them finding what they were looking for decreases since results are generally sorted by what the platform deems relevant to the search query. Hence, if the user scrolls down too far, it is likely that they give up and leave the site. Therefore YouTube stared to add random videos out of its recommendation list for the user into the search results, increasing the probability that they see something they will click and watch. This makes it much harder and more inconvenient to find relevant search results since the user has to scroll past all the noise that is designed to distract them. It also means that a video that is actually relevant is less likely to be discovered, especially if it still has low view counts, since unrelated videos are promoted in search in its place. | Another feature like this is the inclusion of irrelevant videos in search results. If the user searches for something and scrolls down the list too far, the likelihood of them finding what they were looking for decreases since results are generally sorted by what the platform deems relevant to the search query. Hence, if the user scrolls down too far, it is likely that they give up and leave the site. Therefore YouTube stared to add random videos out of its recommendation list for the user into the search results, increasing the probability that they see something they will click and watch. This makes it much harder and more inconvenient to find relevant search results since the user has to scroll past all the noise that is designed to distract them. It also means that a video that is actually relevant is less likely to be discovered, especially if it still has low view counts, since unrelated videos are promoted in search in its place. | ||
=== Rampant bots === | ===Rampant bots=== | ||
For the first few moments of a video being published on the platform, the comments section of the video is swarmed by a legion of bots that aim to scam or garner attention from viewers. Most of these bots employ similar tactics to achieve their goals such as using popular public figures and/or scantly dressed women as their profile pictures and copy-pasting the most liked comments on the video. These bots also spam comments that are often irrelevant to the YouTube channel or the subject matter of the video. Despite repeated requests from creators and communities alike, YouTube still has yet to implement any measures against these bots. Hence YouTubers and their teams have to manually moderate the comments on each individual video. | For the first few moments of a video being published on the platform, the comments section of the video is swarmed by a legion of bots that aim to scam or garner attention from viewers. Most of these bots employ similar tactics to achieve their goals such as using popular public figures and/or scantly dressed women as their profile pictures and copy-pasting the most liked comments on the video. These bots also spam comments that are often irrelevant to the YouTube channel or the subject matter of the video. Despite repeated requests from creators and communities alike, YouTube still has yet to implement any measures against these bots. Hence YouTubers and their teams have to manually moderate the comments on each individual video. | ||