During a recent interview on the BBC’s “Ukrainecast” podcast, YouTube’s Chief Product Officer Neal Mohan reiterated the video sharing platform’s commitment to ongoing censorship of “disinformation.”
Mohan made the comments when he was asked whether he’s satisfied that “YouTube has got it right…when it’s come to Russian disinformation” by BBC disinformation and social media reporter Marianna Spring.
“It is a constant ongoing endeavor,” Mohan said. “It’s not one where I would ever say that our work here is done.”
He added: “The nature of misinformation continues to change. The narratives change in subtle ways. The language changes. We need to stay on top of that.”
Mohan also noted that YouTube has removed more than 70,000 Ukraine war videos and 9,000 channels for violating the tech giant’s community guidelines.
Mohan’s commitment to ongoing censorship of disinformation echoes YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki’s pledge to censor “misinformation” at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting for 2022. During this meeting, Wojcicki said “there’ll always be work that we have to do” to censor “misinformation.”
In addition to suggesting that this censorship will be ongoing, both Wojcicki and Mohan have previously described the censorship of misinformation on YouTube as a top priority. Wojcicki has also been meeting with world leaders to discuss censoring “misinformation” and partnering with rights groups on “misinformation research and initiatives.”
Not only are these high-ranking YouTube executives openly supporting mass censorship of content under their far-reaching misinformation rules but this ideology is being implemented at the platform level. YouTube already uses machine learning to preemptively censor “new misinformation” before it goes viral and is considering hiding the share button to prevent misinformation spread.
