But the very fact of YouTube's existence ensures that sincere and effective political commentators do not need their speech to be 'well-funded' for it to be easily accessed by millions of people. And the aspects of political speech that do involve significant donor funds like paid TV slots are overwhelmingly not dependent on or supported to any significant extent by YouTube channel revenues.
Sure, demonetization makes YouTube political commentary an unprofitable business model which is unfortunate for people who would like to earn a living from it, but free speech isn't about Google's advertisers owing anybody a living, and if people are only willing to express a particular view for click revenue then that political position has much bigger problems than Google,...
But it’s all about incentives. If they are financially incentivizing one side and not the other, it leads to a dramatic imbalance in the amount and quality of content on either side. If they wanted a healthy ecosystem, they would either even-handedly apply demonetization policies, or demonetize all political content across the board. They are, unsurprisingly, doing neither of these things.
>they wanted a healthy ecosystem, they would either even-handedly apply demonetization policies,
Videos are demonetized because advertisers don't want to be associated with them. You can't just force companies to compensate what they view as an unprofitable position.
>If they are financially incentivizing one side and not the other, it leads to a dramatic imbalance in the amount and quality of content on either side.
We've currently had well over a century of the far left, socialism, receiving almost no corporate or government financial support. Both groups have been openly hostile towards the position, yet it has somehow managed.
Videos are demonetized because advertisers don't want to be associated with them. You can't just force companies to compensate what they view as an unprofitable position.
That is absolutely not how demonetization works. Google doesn't take a poll of advertisers and ask if they think they should demonetize them. YouTube reviewers unevenly apply intentionally vague policies to demonetize videos, seemingly at random.
We've currently had well over a century of the far left, socialism, receiving almost no corporate or government financial support. Both groups have been openly hostile towards the position, yet it has somehow managed.
I'd argue that the current incarnation of the Democratic Party is incredibly far left, and it has plenty of financial support. By today's standards, Bill Clinton during his Presidential years would be considered a conservative. Even Barack Obama has been criticized by the woke left for saying that cancel culture is toxic [1]. You have to be pretty far left for Obama to say you're too far left.
> Google doesn't take a poll of advertisers and ask if they think they should demonetize them.
Advertisers don't have time to check every video, neither do YouTube reviewers. Advertisers set the guidelines, and they include many things common to the right wing narrative.
>I'd argue that the current incarnation of the Democratic Party is incredibly far left, and it has plenty of financial support.
Note that I called the far left "socialism," and that neither Biden nor the Democratic party strongly support socialized healthcare, something common worldwide. The Democratic party isn't remotely far left, it's center left at best.
The page is titled "Advertiser-friendly content guidelines," and they aren't overly vague. There's some uncertainty, and I'm sure the bots in charge make many mistakes that YouTube is terrible at correcting. It's still not some arbitrary attack on one side.
The demonetization policy is to serve their advertisers' priorities, not to promote the health of the ecosystem, and advertisers are unwilling to advertise against an enormous variety of content, including that put out by right wing, left wing and entirely mainstream commentators. It's also inconsistent precisely because it's reactive, defensive and not intended as debate moderation or any kind of evaluation of the actual merits of the argument.
And we're talking about an ecosystem for political opinion on a platform with low payouts here: the incentives are supposed to be convincing people of something you believe to be important, and thousands of politically active people are already prepared to donate time communicating with much smaller audiences than can be reached on YouTube. The health of political debate really doesn't depend on the representation of the sorts of opinions people are only willing to voice in return for a $5 CPM.
Sure, demonetization makes YouTube political commentary an unprofitable business model which is unfortunate for people who would like to earn a living from it, but free speech isn't about Google's advertisers owing anybody a living, and if people are only willing to express a particular view for click revenue then that political position has much bigger problems than Google,...