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YouTube Clarifies 'Hate Speech' Definition and Which Videos Won't Be Monetized (arstechnica.com) 271

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: In a blog post, YouTube outlined more specific definitions of hate speech and what kinds of incendiary content wouldn't be eligible for monetization. Three categories are classified as hate speech, with the broadest one being "hateful content." YouTube is defining this as anything that "promotes discrimination or disparages or humiliates an individual or group of people on the basis of the individual's or group's race, ethnicity, or ethnic origin, nationality, religion, disability, age, veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity, or other characteristic associated with systematic discrimination or marginalization." The second category is "inappropriate use of family entertainment characters," which means content showing kid-friendly characters in "violent, sexual, vile, or otherwise inappropriate behavior," no matter if the content is satirical or a parody. The final category is somewhat broad: "incendiary and demeaning content" means that anything "gratuitously" demeaning or shameful toward an individual or group is prohibited. The updated guidelines are a response to creators asking YouTube to clarify what will and will not be deemed advertiser-friendly. YouTube acknowledges that its systems still aren't perfect, but it says it's doing its best to inform creators while maintaining support for advertisers. YouTube also launched a new course in its Creator Academy that creators can take to learn more about how to make "content appealing for a broad range of advertisers."
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YouTube Clarifies 'Hate Speech' Definition and Which Videos Won't Be Monetized

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  • So I just need to make sure I don't do things like say or show anything "associated with systematic discrimination or marginalization".
  • Untenable strategy (Score:5, Insightful)

    by junner518 ( 1235322 ) on Friday June 02, 2017 @04:27PM (#54538511) Journal
    Sounds like YouTube is doubling down on letting the folks in charge of "report abuse" triage bring their biases when choosing which videos make money and which ones don't. Hopefully Vimeo is taking notes...
  • What if (Score:2, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward

    I want to run my ads on anti-SJW videos?

    • I'd buy your crap.

      Just for the sake of it.

    • I want to run my ads on anti-SJW videos?

      Then go ask google if they'll do business with you. They are not obligated to, and not doing business with you is noting to do with muh freeze peach.

  • by SuperKendall ( 25149 ) on Friday June 02, 2017 @04:33PM (#54538561)

    anything that "promotes discrimination or disparages or humiliates an individual or group of people on the basis of the individual's or group's race

    How many far-left videos are there I wonder that whine about oppression from the evil white male, or just from white people in general?

    Well now, all of them are subject to complaint under these rules... conservatives are going to have a field day bringing down videos.

    After all, one of the worst things you can do an opponent is make them live by the rules they made...

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward
      Here's your weasel words right here -

      ... or other characteristic associated with systematic discrimination or marginalization.

      discrimination or disparaging or humiliating any white male or conservative is NOT systematic discrimination in their opinion. It's just being a heroic autobot.

      • It is systematic, because it is allowed without question, because of orthodoxy of thought.

        Q.E.D.

      • Good catch. And when weasel words aren't enough, they'll just redefine terms after the fact to make them fit their agenda.
        Example, I've read many opinions that blacks simply cannot be "racist" because racism is defined (?) now as, "racial discrimination or stereotyping exercised or implemented at an institutional level".. i.e. not personal belief or actions. Definitely not what Merriam-Webster says but whatever.
        So, a black person can, under this new definition, say or do anything against a white person o

    • by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

      You don't seem to understand what the text you quoted is saying. It's only if the disparagement is on the basis of race, so the kind of complaints you are taking about wouldn't count because they are on the basis of behaviour.

      Conservatives took down a Contra Points video recently by mass reporting it as spam. Since this is only a rule clarification, not a change, it suggests that they couldn't attack it on race/gender grounds.

      • by poity ( 465672 )

        Wait, let me see if I understand you correctly.
        Disparaging white/black people's whiteness/blackness = violation
        Disparaging white/black people's behavior = not a violation

    • Extremists on both sides will. You'll have religious nuts who will go out of their way to ensure anyone and everyone promoting tolerance towards transgender and gay people will get plastered with demonetization requests, and SJWs will do the same with anything and everything dealing with religious content and anything else that's "white privilege promoting" in their eyes.

      In the end, the sane people will be the ones losing out. Because when the dust settles after they're done, what's left is cat videos and s

      • by zieroh ( 307208 )

        I've read a couple of your posts now, and it's clear that you don't even understand the basic premise. This is about monetization of videos, not whether the video can be on YouTube. It's shocking (shocking!) how much effort you've put in to espousing your point, when your point isn't even on point.

    • I was just listening to this guy [youtube.com] on the radio yesterday. He's a UK "Liberal" who spends his time attacking the ideology of the Progressives he so vehemently opposes.

      YouTube demonetized him and so he went to Patreon, but is only getting 1/4 of the revenue he was before (which he says is enough to pay the rent and keep the lights on, so he's continuing).

      Google has a serious problem when it's shutting down legitimate political speech under the pretext of "Social Justice". Jesus, if I couldn't handle hearing

      • by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

        Some of his videos were demonetized at the same time as many thousands of others, including make-up tips for trans people and anti-fascist videos. He was just caught up in the shitstorm that happened when advertisers started pulling out of YouTube a few months back.

      • Since when does free speech mean that someone will pay you to speak on their platform?

        I swear the loudest advocates of free speech are the people least able to actually advocate for it. You have a right to speak freely. No one is obligated to provide you a platform to do so. Double so, no one is obligated to actually PAY you to speak.

    • Well now, all of them are subject to complaint under these rules... conservatives are going to have a field day bringing down videos.

      It doesn't bring down videos. It just removes most of the ads from it.

  • by DatbeDank ( 4580343 ) on Friday June 02, 2017 @04:35PM (#54538579)
    I seriously doubt they're going to be applying this rule fairly to offensive videos on both sides of the political divide.
  • Religion? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by blind biker ( 1066130 ) on Friday June 02, 2017 @04:45PM (#54538659) Journal

    Unlike ethnicity, disability, or age, religion is something the individual chose him/herself, and should be completely open to ridicule and mocking. It's an ideology, there is nothing sacred about it.

    • by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

      Probably had to throw that in for the advertisers. Shane because otherwise it all seems fairly reasonable for a commercial service like YouTube.

      • I don't disagree, but it is indeed a shame. As humankind, we're better than this.

        • by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

          The real issue here is that no one has found a better way to fund these sites. Still, YouTube is going to continue hosting their content for free.

          Kinda exposes the people complaining about it. It's not that they want to become allowed to speak, it's not even that they are demanding a platform. They are demanding to be paid to promote their political views.

    • Sometimes religion is chosen for you. Children often have no practical ability to opt out of their parents' religious practices.

    • The vast majority of people are born into a religion, and trained from birth to interpret reality through that lens, and frequently, are further trained in how to process (or fear and avoid) viewpoints that disagree. I don't know how you call that a choice. Like, not to break into a free will debate, but we only make choices based on what we know, and if what we know is limited, our choices are limited.

      • That religion is used to brainwash children does NOT change the fact that religion is indeed an ideology.

        • As John Maynard Keynes so eloquently put it: “Practical men who believe themselves to be quite exempt from any intellectual influence, are usually the slaves of some defunct economist. Madmen in authority, who hear voices in the air, are distilling their frenzy from some academic scribbler of a few years back”

          Everyone has ideology, especially the people who deny it. I grew up in a cult, and according to them, everyone else had a "religious ideology" and we had the truth. Few people question thei

          • by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

            I fucking hate Christmas. I leave the West just to get away from it, but it is starting to affect East too.

            • I fucking hate Christmas. I leave the West just to get away from it, but it is starting to affect East too.

              I love Christmas. I'm an atheist, and if I wasn't, my religion would almost certainly not be Christian because that's not my family background. It's really just based on pre-Christian traditions which are more or less having a bit of a party at the most miserable time of year, with a bit of Victorian weirdness thrown in (well a lot).

              • by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

                The same shitty music, the same crap food, the same forced time off work, the same commercial rip-off fest every year... As someone with chronic fatigue the extra obligation of buying cards and stupid gifts is a literal pain I could do without too.

          • A fuckton of assumptions, kid. For one thing, I don't celebrate Christmas.

        • by tepples ( 727027 )

          What steps should a child who is a victim of ongoing parental brainwashing take?

      • or asking people who are not exactly like you what they know, value, and believe. Then your knowledge will become less limited and you will be free to choose.

        The thought-police do not yet have the tools to know what you really think inside your mind.

        I'm pretty sure there are a lot of secret atheists in mandatory-religion states. They can recite the words like robots, but they can ignore it and laugh at it on the inside.

    • by AHuxley ( 892839 )
      That has to cover the investors, the monarchies and kingdoms with blasphemy laws.
    • by qwak23 ( 1862090 )

      Sure it's a choice, I certainly made a choice when I decided I was no longer a christian, but that was also a fairly painful and difficult experience to go through. Most people are religious because they've been indoctrinated from birth and it is a central and significant part of their life. I consider myself an athiest now (and have for over 30 years) and while I have a very negative opinion of religion as a whole, I also recognize that it can be a critical part of a person's identity and generally refra

  • Another weekend of videos explaining what this mean for the YouTube community.
  • by joetomato ( 1073508 ) on Friday June 02, 2017 @05:06PM (#54538837)
    I fail to see how this is a free speech issue. They're not saying you're not allowed to post content like that. They're saying that Google is not going to pay you To post it.

    Say whatever you want, just don't expect Google to help you make a living saying it.

    Unless of course TFA says more than TFS.

    • by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

      It's an entitlement issue. People feel that they are entitled to be paid for posting their views on YouTube. They feel entitled to force advertisers to display ads along side their videos.

    • If Youtube starts calling stuff "hate speech" it's hard to believe it will continue to host it for free. Corporate advertisers will make further demands, and European Axis Powers are threatening fines
  • YT what? (Score:2, Troll)

    by AndyKron ( 937105 )
    So basically YT is saying they only want cuddly cat videos. Is there another video hosting sight that isn't full of fucking bullshit?
    • You could always start your own MediaGoblin instance on your own web site.

    • by Falos ( 2905315 )

      YT doesn't give a damn, this is a dance to placate advertising deals.

      Who in turn are also doing lip service for some client or another. Trace it back and it probably converges to some nasal screecher demanding not to share space with videos by pewdiepie or whatever internet "celebrity".

      It's the same as netflix being told to "fight" proxies, the same as blizzard saying they're doing "something" about overwatch porn, the same as TSA burning through billions of tax dollars, the same as your ISP being obliged t

    • They hate all moving things smaller than them, and kill them at any opportunity. Ban the evil hate-filled cat videos.

  • I can't say anymore that religious nuts are well defined in the ICD-10 F22.0 without being demonetized?

    Hey, it's only the truth!

  • So we're going to continue being as arbitrary and vague about this as possible as we implement our agenda.

    • by Hartree ( 191324 )

      Well, I'm sure the policy is designed very carefully. Not for preventing anything objectionable, but so Google can't possibly suffer any legal problems due to it.

    • So we're going to continue being as arbitrary and vague about this as possible as we implement our agenda.

      Their agenda is "make money". If you are being paid for your videos, then you only matter to them inasmuch as the presence of your videos is bringing in more advertising dollars than they are spending on you. If you start bringing in less, or worse, have a negative impact on their revenue, they'll dump your ass.

      Their agenda is not shadowy or vague.

      If you want your videos online censorship-free, then fin

      • by tepples ( 727027 )

        YouTube suggestions at the right side of a video page are not federated. Because of this, a user going the Dreamhost route must find another way to ensure that a video is suggested to prospective viewers. What such ways do you recommend?

  • "Hey! your video panning the latest EA (tm) game is systematically discriminating against the group of people known as Electronic arts employees, Demonetized!"

  • Within 5 years they'll find themselves asking why nobody is on their platform, where all the advertisers are without noticing all the content is based around the same set of circle-jerks.

    Being offended just means you're too narcissistic to tolerate opinions different than yours.

  • On first glance it seems to me that "fail" type videos and practical joke videos all fall foul of these rules.

  • `YouTube is defining this as anything that "promotes discrimination or disparages or humiliates an individual or group of people on the basis of the individual's or group's race, ethnicity, or ethnic origin, nationality, religion, disability, age, veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity, or other characteristic associated with systematic discrimination or marginalization." `

    I.e.: when I post a video declaring we want to limit immigration severely for the sake of stability of my country I am d
    • In such case pure logic shows the validity of the argument against limitless immigration.

      What utter rubbish. Your so-called "pure" logic must make some assumptions about the actual world, and include some sort of moral, ethical or other judgements on your part. Since there is no underlying grand truth to life, your base assumptions are just that, assumptions. You and others might thing they're reasonable, but they are not pure logic in any abstract sense.

      The only thing which could be considered to stem from

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