Summit News
The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of this site. This site does not give financial, investment or medical advice.
YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki admits that the company knows its users don’t like the video giant rigging its own algorithm to boost “authoritative” mainstream sources, but that they do it anyway.
For several years now, the company has artificially gamed its own search engine to ensure that independent content creators are buried underneath a wall of mainstream media content.
This rigging is so severe that the company basically broke its own search engine, with some videos posted by independent creators almost impossible to find even if the user searches for the exact title.
The change was made to help struggling mainstream networks who were losing the eyeball war to independent content creators despite their massive financial backing.
In an interview with the New York Times’ “Rabbit Hole” podcast, Wojcicki said the decision to push “authoritative” search results was made after the Nice massacre, but that even after the change, these results were performing poorly in terms of engagement.
“The users don’t wanna actually see it,” YouTube engineers told Wojcicki at the time.
But Wojcicki refused to listen and told them, “It doesn’t matter. We have a responsibility. Something happened in the world and it’s important for our users to know.”
“In the years since Wojcicki made this decision, YouTube has rigged the site heavily in favor of authoritative sources to the point that they’re now 10x more likely to top search results for some news events while YouTubers won’t even get recommended for breaking news,” reports Reclaim the Net.
As we previously highlighted, the company’s disdain for its own user base was also underscored by its Chief Product Officer Neil Mohan insulting non-mainstream YouTube creators as basement-dwelling idiots.
This followed a new policy by the company to remove any content that challenged the World Health Organization’s official coronavirus guidelines, despite the fact that those guidelines have changed numerous times.
Perhaps the reason why YouTube’s users don’t like the company boosting mainstream media channels is because the media is widely distrusted and loathed.
The same thing could eventually happen to YouTube if it continues to stab the independent creators who helped build it in the back.
The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of this site. This site does not give financial, investment or medical advice.
she can fuck off
As shown here, the World Health Organization has also redefined COVID-19 deaths:
https://viableopposition.blogspot.com/2020/04/redefining-covid-19-deaths-world-health.html
It seems rather odd that YouTube is still insisting that WHO is the ultimate authority on the current pandemic.
This is really all about ad revenue. You Tube is also de-monetizing many people citing previous videos going back years.
What some You Tube regulars are doing is moving much content over to 1. patreon 2. their own website.
They are also deleting all their YouTube content and archive all but the latest posts on other media sources (own webpage).
In the end this is about ad revenue and You Tubes ability to charge more for an ad on NBC or FOX or NYT verses joe shmuck’s channel.