YouTube has tapped
the Southern Poverty Law Center to help it police objectionable content,
the
Daily
Caller reported this week.
What a disaster.
YouTube couldn’t have chosen a worse or less trustworthy partner.
The SPLC is a
dishonest, irresponsible and obnoxiously partisan organization. Trusting
them to decide what constitutes objectionable and “extremist” content,
as YouTube’s more than 100 “Trusted Flaggers” have been asked to do, is
like asking the inmates to run the asylum.
YouTube’s monitoring
program dates to 2012. However, according to the Caller, it has
“exploded in size in recent years amid a Google push to increase
regulation of the content on its platforms, which followed pressure from
advertisers.”
“Fifty of the 113
program members joined in 2017 as YouTube stepped up its content
policing,” the report added. “[T]he third-party groups work closely with
YouTube’s employees to crack down on extremist content in two ways …
First, the flaggers are equipped with digital tools allowing them to
mass flag content for review by YouTube personnel. Second, the partner
groups act as guides to YouTube’s content monitors and engineers
designing the algorithms policing the video platform but may lack the
expertise needed to tackle a given subject.”
Spokespersons for the
SPLC have not yet responded to the Washington
Examiner’s request for comment. In the meantime, though,
it’s worth repeating: This group is not to be taken seriously,
especially when it comes to identifying objectionable content and
so-called hate speech.