The Largest Video Content Platform on the Internet published new guidelines for what they will consider harassment, on Wednesday, saying that insulting remarks toward protected people in comment sections of videos were now unacceptable on the platform.
Youtube released a statement on their official blog titled, An Update To Our Official Harassment Policy, saying their company has been “reducing the spread of borderline content, raising up authoritative voices when people are looking for breaking news and information and rewarding trusted creators and artists that make YouTube a special place.”
The updated policy states, “Harassment hurts our community by making people less inclined to share their opinions and engage with each other,” YouTube said.
An official Google statement on approved content for monetization stated that accounts could be censored based on “Content that encourages others to believe that a person or group is inhuman, inferior, or worthy of being hated.”
Youtube, owned by Google, said in the update, “We remain committed to our openness as a platform and to ensuring that spirited debate and a vigorous exchange of ideas continue to thrive here. However, we will not tolerate harassment.”
Without going into specifics of what defines “demeaning language” and showing their arbitrary criteria, Youtube wrote:
“Beyond threatening someone, there is also demeaning language that goes too far. To establish a consistent criteria for what type of content is not allowed on YouTube, we’re building upon the framework we use for our hate speech policy. We will no longer allow content that maliciously insults someone based on protected attributes such as their race, gender expression, or sexual orientation. This applies to everyone, from private individuals, to YouTube creators, to public officials.”
Hate speech Policy, updated June 5, 2019 is defined by Youtube as “Removing more hateful and supremacist content from YouTube”
CNET reported on the Wednesday update, saying “YouTube new harassment policies ban racial, gender or LGBTQ insults personal threats, even ones that are veiled or implied, will be prohibited, and video creators with a pattern of harassing behavior could be prevented from making money with their videos.”
The update said Youtube had already been implementing the process for almost a year, saying, “We’ve continued to fine-tune our systems to make sure we catch truly toxic comments, not just anything that’s negative or critical.”
However, as of Wednesday afternoon, it appears that Youtube is targeting a specific audience for punishment, anyone who says anything anti-LGBTQ, with their updated policies because there are numerous female superiority videos found hosted on the site.
