YouTube’s Chief Product Officer Insults His Own Users as Basement-Dwelling Idiots
Admits company rigs its algorithm to favor mainstream media.
YouTube’s Chief Product Officer has insulted his own users as basement-dwellers who deserve to be relegated by the algorithm in favor of “authoritative” mainstream sources.
Neil Mohan made the remarks during an interview with Protocol’s editor at large David Pierce after he was asked if YouTube had to switch its approach to moderating content given the ever changing advice of health authorities in relation to the coronavirus.
Mohan said that this was the reason YouTube was “raising up authoritative voices,” which is a euphemism for suppressing voices that aren’t part of the mainstream media, despite the fact that the public’s trust in the media during the coronavirus pandemic has plummeted even further.
He then went on to insult his own user base as basement-dwelling idiots.
“As opposed to, you know, it’s somebody espousing their opinions about a mask, you know, in their basement,” said Mohan. “This is coming from an authoritative channel, a news source, a medical professional, and if that’s the case, we think there’s going to be some context that’s provided around the question of masks. And even if that guidance changes, it will be reflected in sort of how an authoritative voice or channel talks about it.”
Mohan then made it clear how non-mainstream channels are algorithmically shadow banned by “removing or reducing views of the videos where that same level of authority hasn’t been established.”
Of course, the only reason why so-called “authoritative” sources are now doing so well on YouTube is because the company rigged its own algorithm to heavily favor them while dumping the very people who helped build YouTube on the trash heap.
Last month, YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki recently said that information which challenged the World Health Organization would be removed, despite the fact that the WHO was directly complicit in helping China cover-up the severity of coronavirus in its early stages and despite the fact the organization gave harmful advice in ordering countries not to close their borders early on.
“Mohan’s comments exemplify how the changes YouTube has made in relation to the coronavirus and news coverage have made it almost impossible for independent creators to cover current events, even when the mainstream media outlets that are being raised up have a track record of getting it wrong,” writes Tom Parker.
