Social media giant YouTube announced Wednesday their plans to remove thousands of videos pushing “extreme views” on their platform; pledging to “clean up” the site after critics accused the network of promoting hate online.
“YouTube announced plans on Wednesday to remove thousands of videos and channels that advocate for neo-Nazism, white supremacy and other bigoted ideologies in an attempt to clean up extremism and hate speech on its popular service,” reports the New York Times.
“The new policy will ban ‘videos alleging that a group is superior in order to justify discrimination, segregation or exclusion,’ the company said in a blog post. The prohibition will also cover videos denying that violent incidents, like the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut, took place,” adds the newspaper.
“It’s our responsibility to protect that, and prevent our platform from being used to incite hatred, harassment, discrimination and violence,” posted the company.
Social media censorship has taken center stage in recent months, with conservative users claiming the platforms have removed content, censored speech, or banned personalities for their views.
Earlier this year, Project Veritas released a video showing Twitter employees bragging about “deleting” Trump supporters from the social network.
Twitter engineer thinks Trump supporters' tweets are bots, and "you just delete them." Says "they'll all be like God, 'Merica, and with the American flag and, like the cross… Who talks like that? It's for sure a bot." pic.twitter.com/dwLhyf7cQk
— James O'Keefe (@JamesOKeefeIII) March 21, 2019
“Just go to a random [Trump] tweet, and just look at the followers. They’ll all be like: ‘Guns, God, ‘Merica,’ and with the American flag, the cross, something. Who says that? Who talks like that? For sure it’s a bot,” claimed a Direct Messaging Engineer.
“So, can you get rid of them?” asked the undercover journalist.
“Yeah. You just delete them. The problem is there are hundreds of thousands of them,” he added.
ANTI-SOCIAL MEDIA: Trump Slams Platforms for ‘SILENCING MILLIONS’ of Americans
President Trump called-out social media platforms for “silencing millions of people” Friday morning; blasting major tech companies for taking down posts and stories published by prominent conservatives.
“Social Media Giants are silencing millions of people. Can’t do this even if it means we must continue to hear Fake News like CNN, whose ratings have suffered gravely. People have to figure out what is real, and what is not, without censorship!” tweeted Trump.
Social Media Giants are silencing millions of people. Can’t do this even if it means we must continue to hear Fake News like CNN, whose ratings have suffered gravely. People have to figure out what is real, and what is not, without censorship!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 24, 2018
The Commander-in-Chief’s tough talk comes after Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and other platforms moved to clampdown on speech some users may find “offensive” or “inappropriate.”
BITTER TWITTER: GOP Leader Demands CEO Testimony Over ‘CENSORING’ Conservatives
House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy is demanding answers from Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey after repeated allegations the social network “hid” or “censored” material from prominent conservatives and Republicans.
McCarthy officially requested a public committee hearing with Dorsey after recent revelations that the platform engaged in “shadow banning,” the practice of hiding or banning tweets without the author’s knowledge.
“Recently we learned that Twitter limited the visibility of certain conservative accounts, so that some of their tweets did not appear in searches and their accounts were more difficult to find through the search feature,” McCarthy wrote. “This ‘shadow ban’ made it harder for users to get information about certain public officials—or even to learn that their social media presence existed.”
“Twitter ultimately implemented a change to stop penalizing conservatives, but serious questions remain about how and why the company filters content on its platform,” McCarthy added.
Read the full report at Fox News.