For-profit

YouTube

Website:

www.youtube.com/%20

Location:

San Bruno, CA

Formation:

2005

CEO:

Susan Wojcicki

Type:

Video platform

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YouTube is a for-profit video platform owned as a subsidiary of Alphabet, parent company of Google. As of January 2021, YouTube has over 34 billion monthly views, making it the second-most visited website in the world behind Google.com. 1

YouTube has been at the forefront of public concerns over censorship, digital intellectual property rights management, and the spread of extremism. Though the website permits anyone to post videos, YouTube has increased moderation in response to criticisms that the website hosts and inadvertently promotes pirated and extremist content. 2

YouTube is permanently banned in China, Iran, North Korea, and Pakistan due to disputes over information sharing and the alleged promotion of immorality or anti-government material. YouTube has been temporarily banned at times in Turkey and Tajikistan to suppress anti-government sentiment. 3

History

In 2004, YouTube was founded by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim, three employees of PayPal who earned substantial sums from the company’s buyout by eBay in 2002. The website was originally envisioned as a video dating site, but after finding a lack of interest from potential female customers, it was transformed into a free, all-purpose video site. In October 2005, a Nike advertisement became the first YouTube video to reach 1 million views. By December 2005, the website was getting 8 million views per day. 4

In February 2006, YouTube encountered its first major intellectual property conflict when a user uploaded a clip from an NBC show to the website. The ensuing legal complaint prompted YouTube to launch the Content Verification Program the following year to monitor and report on possible intellectual property violations. 4

In October 2006, Google purchased YouTube for $1.65 billion in company stock. With a website redesign and support from Google, YouTube’s monthly viewer counts and uploaded videos skyrocketed. 4

In July 2007, YouTube worked with CNN to stream its first online presidential debate, featuring then-U.S. Senator Barack Obama (D-IL) and former U.S. Senator John McCain (R-AZ). In the months following the debate, YouTube began advertising and permitting content creators to make money off their videos. 4

In 2009, YouTube and Vivendi launched Vevo, a music video service which integrated with YouTube to show music videos. YouTube created Vevo in response to criticism from record companies that YouTube was a haven for online piracy. Vevo created a system for displaying music content, while protecting intellectual property rights and compensating music content creators. 4 In October 2009, YouTube reached 1 billion daily views for the first time. 4

In 2012, YouTube launched the Election Hub, which streamed all the major speeches from the Republican and Democratic National Conventions, in addition to the primary and presidential debates. 4

In December 2012, South Korean pop star Psy’s music video for “Gangnam Style” became the first YouTube video to reach 1 billion views. 4

In February 2014, Susan Wojcicki became CEO of YouTube and remains so as of April 2021. Wojcicki has been at YouTube for over a decade, originally hired as the company’s fourteenth employee. 4

Role in the Arab Spring

Between 2010 and 2012, numerous states in the Middle East and North Africa underwent unrest and revolution against autocratic regimes in a period known as the Arab Spring. YouTube (along with other social media companies like Facebook and Twitter) played a key role in publicizing and organizing protestor activity. 5

In addition to users spontaneously utilizing the website, YouTube integrated features to support the protestors. At the time, YouTube had a “Plan and Strategize” section which provided instructions to digital activists on how to amass crowds both online and in-person. The country profiles for Egypt, Tunisia, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, China, and Vietnam contained timelines for revolutions and updates on digital activism against their regimes. 5

YouTube’s support for the Arab Spring protestors prompted mixed global responses, with supporters congratulating the company’s socially conscious efforts and critics condemning YouTube for haphazardly destabilizing foreign nations. 5

Allegations of Promoting Extremism

YouTube has been accused of facilitating an increase in extremist views by hosting and algorithmically promoting extremist content. 4

In February 2016, British newspaper The Times reported that YouTube ads for corporations, universities, and nonprofits were appearing on videos posted by extremist organizations, including the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and neo-Nazi organization Combat 18. In response, numerous organizations, including the British government, AT&T, and Johnson & Johnson, boycotted YouTube ads, costing the website an estimated $750 million. 4

After the election of former President Donald Trump, some critics blamed YouTube for inadvertently radicalizing individuals through its personalized video suggestion algorithms. A Fall 2018 research report by Data & Society claimed that YouTube’s algorithms shepherded mainstream conservative and libertarian users to far-right, racist “alt-right,” and white nationalist videos because the algorithm has determined that the progression in radical videos is the best way to keep users engaged on the website, thereby maximizing user monetization. 6 In June 2019, the New York Times published “The Making of a YouTube Radical” about Caleb Cain, a “liberal college dropout” who adopted extremist views after allegedly being “brainwashed” by YouTube videos. The Times suggested that it was increasingly common for young, lonely, white men to follow a similar path. 7

However, YouTube defenders have claimed that the link between YouTube and extremism is overstated or spurious. A 2019 research paper by Mark Ledwich and Ann Zaitsev found that YouTube’s video suggestion algorithms were more likely to direct users towards mainstream news sources than extremist video producers. 8

Post-2020 Election Political Ad Ban

In September 2020, Google and YouTube announced that they would ban political ads on their website as votes were counted after the election. Google claimed that ads could create more unrest and uncertainty as the election process continued, and thereby claimed the right to invoke the “sensitive events” clause in their advertising contracts. 9 Google and YouTube maintained the ban on political advertisements from November 4 to December 10. 10

After the January 6 storming of the U.S. Capitol by radical supporters of then-President Donald Trump, YouTube reinstated the political ad ban and blocked new uploads to President Trump’s official YouTube channel. The ban on political ads was lifted again on February 24. 11

Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic

In February 2020, YouTube announced that it would not display advertisements on any videos pertaining to the COVID-19 pandemic due to its “sensitive events” clause. The ad ban was intended to promote easier access to coronavirus-related videos to promote public knowledge of how to respond to the pandemic, especially after YouTube had been accused of hosting and spreading misinformation. 12 13

In March, YouTube reversed its decision and began permitting advertisements on coronavirus-related videos. 12

On May 4, Plandemic: The Hidden Agenda Behind Covid-19 was released on YouTube and other online platforms. The documentary proposed several unsubstantiated conspiracy theories concerning the COVID-19 pandemic, including the idea that the coronavirus was being manufactured and purposefully spread by governments, the argument that vaccines are dangerous, and the supposition that medical responses to the pandemic are being manipulated by pharmaceutical companies for profit. Within days, YouTube and Facebook banned the documentary, prompting mostly support from the media but concerns of censorship from some critics. 2

Intellectual Property Concerns

YouTube has been at the center of discussions on digital intellectual property rights since its founding. Given the freedom of all users to upload content to YouTube, the website has hosted millions of pirated and copyright-infringing videos. To manage the illegal activity of its users, YouTube has relied on the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), a 1998 law that protects internet content hosts from criminal liability as long as they promptly respond to claims of intellectual property rights violations. 14

Critics have accused YouTube of being both excessively and insufficiently dependent on the DMCA. Typically, large content creators have blamed YouTube for passively allowing DMCA requests to dictate content removal, thereby permitting marginal piracy. Meanwhile, small content creators have blamed YouTube for summarily banning content based on DMCA complaints without proper review, thereby allowing competing creators to weaponize copyright complaints to file claims against their rivals to remove their videos. 14

During its early years, several major corporations sued YouTube for insufficiently defending against copyright violations. In 2008, media giant Viacom sued YouTube for $1 billion for the unauthorized hosting of 150,000 clips that were watched over 1.5 billion times. 15 Viacom lost the court battle after twelve years but successfully forced Google to hand over 12 terabytes of user data, an act with the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) condemned as a massive violation of privacy rights. 16

In 2007, YouTube developed its “Content ID System” to automate copyright protections. Companies could upload their content (such as video clips or songs) to the system, and YouTube would automatically scrape uploaded user content for matches, and then remove said content for copyright violation. Over the years, the Content ID System has been steadily refined, and while it has improved copyright protection, digital rights critics have accused the system of overzealously defending large content producers at the expense of YouTube users. 14

Prism

YouTube allegedly participated in “Prism,” a secretive and controversial electronic surveillance program run by the National Security Agency (NSA). It was alleged that through Prism, the NSA had direct access to all YouTube systems and data, without getting advance permission from YouTube or individual users. YouTube’s alleged involvement in Prism was revealed by a top-secret document leak to the Guardian in 2013. 17

COPPA Violations

In September 2019, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) found YouTube and Google to be operating in violation of the Children’s Online Privacy and Protection Act (COPPA), a federal statute which prohibits the private collection of digital records on individuals under the age of 13. The companies were fined $170 million ,the largest COPPA penalty in history, with $136 million paid to the FTC and $34 million paid to the New York state government. 18

Since YouTube began promoting the creation of channels to target children in the mid-2010s, it has been required to comply with COPPA. Over a year-long investigation, the FTC found that YouTube had tracked viewers of “child-directed” channels without asking for consent from the viewers’ parents and had made millions of dollars off of advertisements directed at these users. YouTube was notified of these violations by companies and nonprofits but chose not to comply with COPPA until forced to do so by the FTC. 18

Moderation Controversies

“Elsagate”

In June 2017, YouTuber TheLocalGamer released a video entitled “I think it’s time more people know about Elsagate,” which explored evidence of widespread sexuality, fetish art, violence, and other inappropriate content and comments on channels which YouTube officially designated “child-friendly.” The online movement against YouTube became known as “Elsagate” after the Disney princess character from the movie Frozen who frequently appeared on the child-friendly channels. 19

Mainstream outlets were initially skeptical of Elsagate. Many proponents of the claims made unsubstantiated conspiratorial claims of YouTube purposefully facilitating sexual content for nefarious ends. Some proponents connected Elsagate to the Pizzagate conspiracy theory, which falsely claimed that high-level American politicians were operating a pedophile ring out of a pizza parlor in Washington, D.C. Despite the initial skepticism, in the second half of 2017, users flooded YouTube with content complaints, and advertisers began to drop from child-friendly videos. In November, the New York Times published a story highlighting the Elsagate claims. 19

YouTube responded to Elsagate by slowly overhauling its content moderation and eventually increasing its child-friendly content moderation staff to 10,000. By late November, YouTube had deleted 270 accounts and 150,000 videos, in addition to de-monetizing 2 million videos and 50,000 channels. 20 Numerous high-profile channels were banned, including Toy Freaks, a channel that depicted its creator’s children in what a critic called “gross out situations,”21 which had 8.5 million subscribers. 22

Conservative Censorship

YouTube has been accused of targeting conservative channels for censorship. In 2018, digital consultant and former political advisor to President Donald Trump Brad Parscale argued in a USA Today op-ed that YouTube had arbitrarily levied bans and video takedowns against prominent conservative channels, including PragerU and anti-abortion groups. These moderation priorities are alleged to reflect a left-leaning bias among YouTube and Google employees who seek to suppress conservative viewpoints. 23

Extremism

Like Facebook, Twitter, and other social networks, YouTube has removed extremist content over the last few years as a response to media pressure and the perceived rise of extremism in America. Its official policy is to use both algorithmic moderators and employees to identify videos which incite violence or contain “hate speech” for removal. Each removal results in a “strike” for the content creator, and three strikes result in a ban of the creator’s channel. YouTube’s policies towards “misinformation” are more ambiguous and discretionary. 24

In the fourth quarter of 2017, YouTube removed five million videos for content violations, an all-time high. 24

In June 2019, YouTube removed thousands of channels and videos relating to white supremacists and neo-Nazis. According to the New York Times, this wave of removals was prompted by accusations that YouTube was excessively permissive with popular content creators. Critics called for conservative agitator Steven Crowder’s channel to be removed after he insulted Vox journalist Carlos Maza, but YouTube refused to ban Crowder’s account and claimed he had not violated any YouTube content policies. 25

In January 2021, in the immediate aftermath of the storming of the U.S. Capitol, YouTube removed a video of the President Trump gave prior to the event. Critics have alleged that President Trump’s speech, in which he referred to the protestors as “special,” incited the riot. 26

In February 2021, the Washington Post criticized YouTube for continuing to host extremist content, especially after the January storming of the Capitol. The article cited a study which found that 10% of YouTube users had viewed at least one extremist video. 27

References

  1. Neufeld, Dorothy. “The 50 Most Visited Websites in the World.” Visual Capitalist. January 27, 2021. Accessed April 16, 2021. https://www.visualcapitalist.com/the-50-most-visited-websites-in-the-world/.
  2. Culliford, Elizabeth. “Facebook, YouTube remove ‘Plandemic’ video with ‘unsubstantiated’ coronavirus claims.” Reuters. May 7, 2020. Accessed April 16, 2021. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-tech-video/facebook-youtube-remove-plandemic-video-with-unsubstantiated-coronavirus-claims-idUSKBN22K077.
  3. Liebelson, Dana. “MAP: Here Are the Countries That Block Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.” Mother Jones, March 28, 2014. https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2014/03/turkey-facebook-youtube-twitter-blocked/.
  4. Leskin, Paige. “YouTube is 15 years old. Here’s a timeline of how YouTube was founded, its rise to video behemoth, and its biggest controversies along the way.” Insider. May 30, 2020. Accessed April 16, 2021. https://www.businessinsider.com/history-of-youtube-in-photos-2015-10.
  5. Bandler, Rachel C. “YouTube’s fingerprints on the Arab Spring.” The Jerusalem Post. December 19, 2011. Accessed April 16, 2021. https://www.jpost.com/opinion/op-ed-contributors/youtubes-fingerprints-on-the-arab-spring.
  6. Lewis, Rebecca. “Alternative Influence: Broadcasting the Reactionary Right on YouTube.” Data & Society. Fall 2018. Accessed April 16, 2021. https://datasociety.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/DS_Alternative_Influence.pdf.
  7. Roose, Kevin. “The Making of a YouTube Radical.” New York Times. June 8, 2019. Accessed April 16, 2021. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/06/08/technology/youtube-radical.html.
  8. Ledwich, Mark; Zaitsev, Anna. “Algorithmic extremism: Examining YouTube’s rabbit hole of radicalization.” First Monday. February 25, 2020. Accessed April 16, 2021. https://firstmonday.org/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/10419/9404.
  9. Ingram, David. “Google, YouTube won’t allow political ads white votes are counted after Nov. 3.” NBC News. September 25, 2020. Accessed April 16, 2021. https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/google-youtube-won-t-allow-political-ads-while-votes-are-n1241120.
  10. Glazer, Emily. “Google to Lift Political Ad Ban on Thursday.” Wall Street Journal. December 9, 2020. Accessed April 16, 2021. https://www.wsj.com/articles/google-to-lift-political-ad-ban-on-thursday-11607528290.
  11. Schneider, Elena. “Google to lift political ad ban this week.” Politico. February 22, 2021. Accessed April 16, 2021. https://www.politico.com/news/2021/02/22/google-ends-political-ad-ban-470840.
  12. Glenday, John. “YouTube U-turns on coronavirus video ad ban.” The Drum. March 12, 2020. Accessed April 16, 2021. https://www.thedrum.com/news/2020/03/12/youtube-u-turns-coronavirus-video-ad-ban.
  13. Lim, Shawn. “Why misinformation is a clear and present danger during the coronavirus outbreak.” The Drum. February 10, 2020. Accessed April 16, 2021. https://www.thedrum.com/news/2020/02/10/why-misinformation-clear-and-present-danger-during-the-coronavirus-outbreak.
  14. “How Explaining Copyright Broke the YouTube Copyright System.” NYU Law. Accessed April 16, 2021. https://www.law.nyu.edu/centers/engelberg/news/2020-03-04-youtube-takedown.
  15. “YouTube law fight ‘threatens net’.” BBC. May 27, 2008. Accessed April 16, 2021. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7420955.stm.
  16. “Google must divulge the YouTube log.” BBC. July 3, 2008. Accessed April 16, 2021. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7488009.stm.
  17. Greenwald, Glenn; MacAskill, Ewen. “NSA Prism program taps into user data of Apple, Google, others.” Guardian. June 7, 2013. Accessed April 16, 2021. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/jun/06/us-tech-giants-nsa-data.
  18. “Google and YouTube Will Pay Record $170 Million for Alleged Violations of Children’s Privacy Law.” Federal Trade Commission. September 4, 2019. Accessed April 16, 2021. https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/press-releases/2019/09/google-youtube-will-pay-record-170-million-alleged-violations.
  19. Brandom, Russel. “Inside Elsagate, the Conspiracy-Fueled War On Creepy YouTube Kids Videos.” The Verge. December 8, 2017. Accessed April 16, 2021. https://www.theverge.com/2017/12/8/16751206/elsagate-youtube-kids-creepy-conspiracy-theory.
  20. Montgomery, Blake. YouTube Has Deleted Hundreds Of Thousands Of Disturbing Kids’ Videos.” Buzzfeed News. November 27, 2017. Accessed April 16, 2021. https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/blakemontgomery/youtube-has-deleted-hundreds-of-thousands-of-disturbing.
  21. Berg, Kara. “YouTube Shuts down Local Man’s Million-Subscriber Channel Featuring Daughters.” Belleville News-Democrat, November 21, 2017. https://www.bnd.com/news/local/article185829343.html.
  22. Spangler, Todd. “YouTube Terminates Toy Freaks Channel Amid Broader Crackdown on Disturbing Kids’ Content.” Variety. November 17, 2017. Accessed April 16, 2021. https://variety.com/2017/digital/news/youtube-toy-freaks-channel-terminated-1202617834/.
  23. Parscale, Brad. “Trump is right: More than Facebook & Twitter, Google threatens democracy, online freedom.” USA Today. September 10, 2018. Accessed April 16, 2021. https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2018/09/10/trump-google-youtube-search-results-biased-against-republicans-conservatives-column/1248099002/.
  24. Dave, Paresh. “YouTube deletes 5 million videos for content violation.” Reuters. April 24, 2018. Accessed April 16, 2021. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-alphabet-youtube/youtube-deletes-5-million-videos-for-content-violation-idUSKBN1HV29H.
  25. Conger, Kate; Roose, Kevin. “YouTube to Remove Thousands of Videos Pushing Extreme Views.” New York Times. June 5, 2019. Accessed April 16, 2021. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/05/business/youtube-remove-extremist-videos.html.
  26. Coldewey, Devin; Hatmaker, Taylor. “Facebook and YouTube remove Trump video calling extremists ‘special.’” Tech Crunch. January 6, 2021. Accessed April 16, 2021. https://techcrunch.com/2021/01/06/facebook-and-youtube-remove-trump-video-calling-extremists-special/.
  27. Nyhan, Brendan. “YouTube still hosts extremist videos. Here’s who watches them.” Washington Post. March 10, 2020. Accessed April 16, 2021. https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2021/03/10/youtube-extremist-supremacy-radicalize-adl-study/.
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YouTube


San Bruno, CA