Independent journalist Ford Fischer has been caught up in the latest YouTube adpocalypse with his entire News2Share channel being demonetized and two of his videos being removed. Commentators from all sides of the political spectrum describe Fischer as an honest, non-political journalist and his work has been featured in many Oscar and Emmy award-winning films.
Fischer’s News2Share channel features on the ground reporting with very little opinion and it’s not clear how it violates YouTube’s new “hate speech” rules. However, since the rules are based on YouTube’s own subjective interpretation of “hate,” it could be for anything that YouTube employees have deemed “hateful.”
Fischer announced that the News2Share YouTube channel had been demonetized minutes after YouTube introduced its new rules.
He added that two of his videos had been removed and said that both were simply documenting specific events. Fischer said the first video featured the political activist Jason Charter and other Antifa activists confronting a Holocaust denier while the second video featured Mike Peinovich “Enoch.”
Fischer’s footage has been used in a number of Oscar and Emmy award-winning documentaries including “White Right: Meeting the Enemy.” His footage has also been used by many large media corporations including The New York Times and PBS. Fischer adds that his channel is often used by researchers and filmmakers and by deleting these two videos, YouTube is removing historical footage and news.
One of the most notable things about Fischer’s News2Share channel being hit is that he has support from all sides of the political spectrum with many commentators believing he does great work which contains very little politics or opinion.
Ironically Vox, the company that pressured YouTube to punish creators before this latest adpocalypse, has previously used Fischer’s work. Carlos Maza, the Vox host whose complaints led to YouTube introducing the new “hate speech” rules which triggered this adpocalypse, has also complained about Fischer being demonetized.
https://twitter.com/gaywonk/status/1136425011970019329
Fischer is one of the many creators who have been caught in the crossfire of this YouTube adpocalypse. What’s notable about Fischer’s case is that those who were pushing YouTube to act more aggressively are now complaining that this more aggressive demonetization has had unintended consequences. It’s yet another example of how when companies try to regulate content based on subjective terms such as “hate,” many innocent parties get caught in the fallout.
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