The Censorship Tactics of YouTube

Thought it might be interesting to list some of the censorship methods I've seen used by YouTube, obviously this is mostly guess work based on my observations so take it with a grain of salt.

Rigged trending and suggested videos

This is one of the most obvious things which most people are aware of. If they don't like a particular video it seems they can prevent it from showing up on the trending page. If a video is seen as conspiratorial or even just controversial or politically slanted in a direction they don't like it will not be suggested by their algorithm and wont receive many views. Google first announced this type of filtering would occur back around August of last year in one of their blog posts, and more recently they promised to further enhance this system by censoring even more conspiratorial videos. The blog post from last year states that when "people search for sensitive keywords on YouTube, they will be redirected towards a playlist of curated YouTube videos that directly confront and debunk violent extremist messages", as we now know they weren't just targeting extremism.

Blacklisting and shadow banning

Last year I came across an interesting video where a guy does some tests which seem to show YouTube is in fact using blacklists to target specific channels. These channels tend to have most of their videos quickly demonetized, even some videos that don't seem to contain any controversial content. It has also recently come to my attention that YouTube appears to be shadow banning users, not necessarily just controversial content creators, but specific users making controversial comments on YouTube videos. If this happens to your account your comments will often get pushed down and hidden below other comments so they never get seen and the like count might even get hidden on your comments. I know this because it seems to have happened to one of my accounts after making some controversial comments on political videos.

Hiding like counts on comments

I first started to notice something weird was happening with the comment likes back in July of last year and I made a thread titled YouTube hiding comment like counts?. Since then it seems they changed the way it works slightly to make it less obvious but there are still clear signs this type of thing is happening. I was actually motivated to create this thread when I was watching a Mark Dice video about AOC's green energy deal and I decided to look at the comments, only to see the comments Mark Dice had given a heart all had their like counts hidden, so I took a screenshot of it. They were unhidden some time later but it would appear there is an algorithm flagging comments for manual review. More concerning is that fans and followers of a creator may also be targeted just for their association to a controversial channel.

Ending this is easy... boycott youtube. It really is that simple.

a reply to: ChaoticOrder

Hi, cool to meet you.

Very interesting observations. Yes, more than observations - you have a good angle on the algorimthic control in place by YouTube.

It is actually the computer doing the censoring. I expect, as you say, there is a database that the algorithms both create and refer to. The sheer quantity of media on that site makes it impossible for it to be human monitored, obviously, so they have to employ the droids to be little policemen of the site.

The governments have told them they have to clean up their acts as they will be held criminally accountable for what they allow as broadcasters. It relates to stuff like extremism recruiting, encouragement to engage in violent criminal activity, the teen suicides and a lot of lies and slander about certain people, et c.

It is worrying when morality itself is controlled automatically in a blanket fashion. If we think same crime, different response in the real world where individuals commit an apparently similar crime yet the judge and the jury make different decisions of sentence based on many analyzed factors over a long period of time, with many sources of information to help them inform their decisions, then we can appreciate that the automated policing methods are very crude and remote indeed, even very unfair and prone to continual error.

It could be worked around and manipulated with some imagination and coding of content. Facial recognition software can be worked around by hiding the face, lol, or disguisng it in some way.

There is always the option to have nothing to do with the site. I only go there to watch the very occasional music video or instruction video. I know what I want before I go there. I keep well away from all the political, conspiracy stuff as I know it is trashy. I learn intellectually by properly sourced media with links. I learn according to the critical analysis skills imparted to me in higher education.

Hey, don't let too much of that stuff into your beautiful mind. You can be your own informer using your own intellectual skills. You obviously have very good skills to have been so observant. YouTube is nothing to me. A business is nothing if you do not take advanatage of its service. Facebook is nothing to me as I do not use it. The TV is nothing to me. All media is pretty low down on my list of important stuff. I make Deep Hose music and even the tracks I spend so much money and time making mean nothing to me. I am only as good as my last track. I play them for a couple of days to "drum" in the new developments and swiftly move on. Media is very temporal generally.

There is very little media that lasts any amount of time in terms of usefulness and relevance . The Bible, Shakespeare, Orwell, some very amazing music makers like Bach and Hildegard (check her out, she is amazing) are examples of media that speak out of time. That is because it is genius.

Don't lock yourself in a box of YouTube when all that mighty fine media is so much more worth spending time with. They can reward you with real gifts of perception. It is easy to get taken prisoner by that "box of tricks". All of it is an illusion taken advantage of by those who want to manipulate us for their own ends, usually power, influence or money based of course.

Have a lovely weekend.

OP: I am using "you" in two different way here. I am not suggesting that you personally are like that. I am just saying you to everybody as an offer of alternatives. I am sure you personally have a very good approach to it all.

Youtube has a media agenda. Let it go.

The Youtubes of the world; they all die because of their political censorship.

originally posted by: madmac5150
Ending this is easy... boycott youtube. It really is that simple.

Boycotting a monopoly as large as YouTube isn't really what I would define as easy, you'll never get enough people. In time it may fade out of popularity if something superior comes along, but most of the video content I seek is on YouTube. And it's not just political content, it's often tutorials and tech videos. Sure as a private company they can make their own rules but they don't even tell us exactly what they rules are. At the end of the day I don't expect them to change and I don't expect people to stop using their service, but it doesn't concern me too much because information wants to be free and you're right there are alternatives to YouTube.

originally posted by: ChaoticOrder

originally posted by: madmac5150
Ending this is easy... boycott youtube. It really is that simple.

Boycotting a monopoly as large as YouTube isn't really what I would define as easy, you'll never get enough people. In time it may fade out of popularity if something superior comes along, but most of the video content I seek is on YouTube. And it's not just political content, it's often tutorials and tech videos. Sure as a private company they can make their own rules but they don't even tell us exactly what they rules are. At the end of the day I don't expect them to change and I don't expect people to stop using their service, but it doesn't concern me too much because information wants to be free and you're right there are alternatives to YouTube.

It really is that easy. I haven't been on Youtube in over a year. My wife no longer visits that site, nor do her kids... Youtube is in serious trouble. Advertisers are opting out, because of Youtube's promotion of soft-core pedophilia... and when their investors drop them like their advertisers? Do the math. Their days are numbered.

a reply to: madmac5150

Just because you've stopped using YouTube doesn't mean enough people will stop using it. I agree they are making all the right moves to dig their own grave and they will deserve it, but even I don't want to see that happen, I'd prefer to see them change and create a more balanced and transparent platform.

a reply to: madmac5150

Yes, i think all those total inflated digital companies are going to fall or have to change.

Amazon, Facebook, Google and the Alphabet crew, Ebay and some of the others are in for huge losses. They have become something vile. They exploit all the world's people, conspire with states even to satisfy democracy-destroying political demands so terribly, make huge amounts of cash and a huge market edge out of the data given to them for free.

If they are selling data then the data provider (the user) should be give some of the profit. I think we need a copyright law that works relating to all data. In a sense all of us are making a media item with every move of behaviour, every keystroke and if someone is making money and other capital out of that then they should pay royalties. otherwise it is a form of slavery and exploitation.

I think these giants are a flash in the pan and just the beginnings of the digital age. Like everything that take advantage eventually it is brought down to size. These giant balloons will explode, taking a lot of shareholders with them.

Lol, how I love making shareholders and investors real nervous. It amuses me greatly.



Google have far too much power. Search engines should be like dictionaries. That would be a good model to apply to them. Seriously, it would be much healthier doing it like that. They would have to be academically structured by experts instead of cut-throat investors with the very worst kind of agenda of all when applied to such universal fundamental resources - making quick money!

originally posted by: Malak777
a reply to: ChaoticOrder

There is always the option to have nothing to do with the site. I only go there to watch the very occasional music video or instruction video. I know what I want before I go there. I keep well away from all the political, conspiracy stuff as I know it is trashy. I learn intellectually by properly sourced media with links. I learn according to the critical analysis skills imparted to me in higher education.

Sure it's usually better to get information from more reputable source than YouTube, the online course websites often have some good video content from respected professors. However I still learn a lot of great stuff from YouTube, particularly stuff about programming. On a non-intellectual level there are also several comedic and gaming channels I enjoy watching, so it's very hard for me to boycott them and it's the same for a lot of people.

TPTB/people used to burn books and still do on occasion just to control a narrative.

Now with just a stroke of a key or a properly written algorithm it is so much easier to steer the herd or control what they are allowed to see..

originally posted by: Malak777
a reply to: madmac5150

Yes, i think all those total inflated digital companies are going to fall or have to change.

Facebook, Google and the Alphabet Crew, Ebay and some of the others are in for huge losses. They have become something vile. They exploit all the world's people, conspire with states even to satisfy democracy-destroying political demands so terribly, make huge amounts of cash and a huge market edge out of the data given to them for free.

If they are selling data then the data provider (the user) should be give some of the profit. I think we need a copyright law that works relating to all data. In a sense all of us are making a media item with every move of behaviour, every keystroke and if someone is making money and other capital out of that then they should pay royalties. otherwise it is a form of slavery and exploitation.

I think these giants are a flash in the pan and just the beginnings of the digital age. Like everything that take advantage eventually it is brought down to size. These giant balloons will explode, taking a lot of shareholders with them.

Lol, how I love making shareholders and investors real nervous. It amuses me greatly.

Google have far too much power. Search engines should be like dictionaries. That would be a good model to apply to them. Seriously, it would be much healthier doing it like that. They would have to be academically structured by experts instead of cut-throat investors with the very worst kind of agenda of all when applied to such universal fundamental resources - making quick money!

Liberalism isn't dead, but it is dying. Tech companies are going to discover this. They will follow the money... and, when the money shifts sides, so will their politics.

Five year from now, people will be bitching that the internet is too conservative...

The total number of people who use YouTube – 1,300,000,000. 300 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube every minute! Almost 5 billion videos are watched on Youtube every single day. In an average month, 8 out of 10 18-49 year-olds watch YouTube.Jan 5, 2019

I seriously doubt their days are numbered, I mean well wishing is good n all but I never doubt the stupidity of other humans to be preyed upon by corporations.


merchdope.com...

originally posted by: ChaoticOrder

originally posted by: Malak777
a reply to: ChaoticOrder

There is always the option to have nothing to do with the site. I only go there to watch the very occasional music video or instruction video. I know what I want before I go there. I keep well away from all the political, conspiracy stuff as I know it is trashy. I learn intellectually by properly sourced media with links. I learn according to the critical analysis skills imparted to me in higher education.

Sure it's usually better to get information from more reputable source than YouTube, the online course websites often have some good video content from respected professors. However I still learn a lot of great stuff from YouTube, particularly stuff about programming. On a non-intellectual level there are also several comedic and gaming channels I enjoy watching, so it's very hard for me to boycott them and it's the same for a lot of people.

Well, I use them for prety much the same reasons. I don't boycott them. I don't trust them though. All those digital monopolies are contrary to the Egalitarian nature of the Digital Age. It will show. They will crack. They are doing already.

The Digital Age will be Egalitarian. It will universalize the human being. This is the end of G-D's Curse at Babel. Humanity is now allowed to communicate and come together to pool our resources universally. It is not right there should be such terrible exploiting agents of this huge leap in our evolution. I think they are a necessary evil that kick started this.

Eventually the concept of usury and business will be viewed as something so barbaric and greedy. Digital Technology and its non stop advancement and evolution will turn us all into the leaders of our own states.

Seriously, folks, the age of the STATE OF THE INDIVIDUAL is coming. This will even make democracy defunct, irrelevant and useless as a system. I already see how digital technology is taking us there.

Bureaucratically now I am so much more empowered. It is a roll on effect. The High Streets are dying and something new is coming. My behaviour is changing in ways that are ever more friendly and less resource hogging of nature. Nature is doing this to us. It is going to be a long, hard road, full of errors and experiments (as evolution always is).

Obviously with such easy access to all this knowledge we are going to become more intellectual and have instant access to all the instructions we need. I feel excited for the future. The Bible Prophesies fit very well with all this.

I believe that we will be able one to day to rise beyond matter. Now in my life I am buying stuff made of code and spend most of my spare cash on this while minimizing all other bills. These items I buy do not physically exist yet they are more useful to me than their hardware equivalents and far more advanced. Can you see how that will revolutionize the traditional price versus labour versus resource and manufacturing costs that go to making the economic value, input and ouput related to labour and commerce? It is a whole new ball-game and releases us from the economies tied to resources binding of business and commerce and therefore the politics that govern it all too.

Now it is just a small team or even an individual writing code that makes items that millions or even billions of people will buy.

Once we get over this greed and selfish barbarism of self interests and move on to mutual interests we shall fly very high indeed. It is just a stage the special monkey creatures have to go through (there have been many).

Jesus said that all people were his brothers and sisters. He was telling us about the future. We shall all have that level of respect for our fellow humans in the very near future.

The Bible says that at the end of it all we shall achieve an eternal spiritual and conscious state as individuals. May be the universe is trying to make this. I believe it is. I believe the Creator Impulse, G-D, is going to make that happen for us.

All this stuff is part of the journey. Every dog like YouTube has its digital day and use by date. It will either evolve or perish as its usefulness is constantly challenged by our digital evolution.

a reply to: ChaoticOrder

This kind of censorship has been going on for some time and across the spectrum of social media. Remember when the Oregon standoff was playing out, there was literally no media coverage of the story here in oz, i posted some videos of it on facebook and they were dumped right to the back of the feed, it was clearly targeted.

This # will only get worse since there's nothing stopping monopolies from forming and nothing stopping these monopolies from bribing the government to further their goals.

originally posted by: Lysergic

The total number of people who use YouTube – 1,300,000,000. 300 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube every minute! Almost 5 billion videos are watched on Youtube every single day. In an average month, 8 out of 10 18-49 year-olds watch YouTube.Jan 5, 2019

I seriously doubt their days are numbered, I mean well wishing is good n all but I never doubt the stupidity of other humans to be preyed upon by corporations.


merchdope.com...

I am getting pretty tired of the "smash that like button. Support the patreon" crap though.

YT axed my account for copyright infringement even though the site is rife with similar videos. I didn't even get a chance to remove the videos in question. Just everything got deleted instantly and my account was banned without warning ^_^

There are multiple factors that go into this,and I think it comes down to two big things. A broken and unreliable algorythm system because the site is simply too big to be monitored by humans, and that I think political videos, especially those that people see as controversial or even conspiritorial are more likely to be flagged by people who disagree than the average video. Being that I am very much into Youtube, having friends that do Youtube, watching it pretty much every day, none of it involving anything poltical, I still see these issues every single day. Even the biggest of youtubers every 2-3 months are having to fight against some major issue. I've had friends with content pulled down for fake copywright claims, even their channels suspended and videos deleted for false pretenses. A few days ago some guy was making false copywright claims against NASCAR videos, and got many of the videos people watch daily deleted.

I think a lot of people will go and flag videos like Mark Dice, and other that get tossed around on political forums more than they would a comedy video, or an entertainment channel.

You've voluntarily given them control by offering up your content. For free even. And now you're mad at the monopoly you've freely handed to them. They are laughing all the way to the bank while you wonder how this happened. Funny thing is, you still use it and they know it. You've been tubed. You don't have to be.

originally posted by: madmac5150
Ending this is easy... boycott youtube. It really is that simple.

Exactly. It's all very tedious. YouTube are not there to be a force for good, or improve society, they are there to make money. If they want to censor content then that's up to them, and the bad PR they will get if they don't.

a reply to: Malak777

Is there such a thing as a voluntary slave? Or is it charity work for a billionaire? #metubed

a reply to: ChaoticOrder

Free speech isn't to be allowed in the 21st Century.