David Pakman, host of the progressive news program “The David Pakman Show,” said that while YouTube has every right to enforce its guidelines, he questioned whether the company has been applying its policies “evenly and fairly” across its platform.
“My concern is the uneven application of some of these policies and it seems to be often very much directed by what creates a public outcry or discussion in the media,” Pakman said during an interview that aired on Friday.
“There’s tons of content that is arguably not legal content and or certainly not brand safe that never even makes any headlines because nobody is watching it,” he added. “So my concern is the policy being applied evenly and fairly.”
YouTube’s parent company, Google, did not immediately respond to Hill.TV’s request for comment.
Pakman’s comments come amid a heated debate over whether YouTube and other social platforms are doing enough to address hate speech and extremist content.
Earlier this month, YouTube announced that it would block conservative commentator Steven Crowder from monetizing his videos after he made a series of remarks about Vox journalist Carlos Maza.
In a viral Twitter thread, Maza posted a video montage of Crowder referring to Maza as a “lispy queer” and the “gay Mexican from Vox.”
YouTube responded to the incident, saying it didn’t agree with Crowder’s comments but that his content wasn’t in violation of the company’s policies. Still, Crowder’s channel was ultimately demonetized.
YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki issued an apology to the LGBTQ community following backlash for how it handled its response, and the company is now in the process of reexamining its harassment policies.
—Tess Bonn
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