Twitter Goes Into PR Mode After YouTube Demonetizes A Slew Of Academics And Journos
Twitter reordered and shortened its rules Thursday after YouTube decided to demonetize a conservative pundit and several academics on Wednesday.
Twitter dramatically reduced the number of words the company uses (from 2,500 to 600 words) to explain its already convoluted set of rules. The company also created a set of categories on its rules page — safety, privacy, and authenticity — to help users navigate through its policies.
“Rules should be easy to understand. We heard you, ours weren’t. We updated, reordered, and shortened them, so you can know what’s not allowed on Twitter. Click through this thread for all our rules, and read our blog to learn more,” Twitter wrote in a long tweet thread explaining how the company jiggered its rules.
Twitter has not responded to The Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
The company did not explain the reason for the change, but the tweet thread comes shortly after YouTube demonetized conservative commentator Steven Crowder, citing several inflammatory statements he directed at Vox writer Carlos Maza.
YouTube also announced Wednesday it was “strengthening enforcement of our existing YouTube Partner Program policies. Channels that repeatedly brush up against our hate speech policies will be suspended from the YouTube Partner program, meaning they can’t run ads on their channel or use other monetization features like Super Chat.”
The changes apparently affected several YouTubers who use the platform to broadcast educational content. One Twitter user calling himself Mr Allsop History noted in a tweet thread Wednesday that YouTube dinged him for hate speech.
“YouTube have banned me for ‘hate speech’, I think due to clips on Nazi policy featuring propaganda speeches by Nazi leaders. I’m devastated to have this claim levelled against me, and frustrated 15yrs of materials for #HistoryTeacher community have ended so abruptly,” the user wrote. Allsop’s channel has since been restored, albeit with flags on certain videos.
YouTube have banned me for ‘hate speech’, I think due to clips on Nazi policy featuring propaganda speeches by Nazi leaders. I’m devastated to have this claim levelled against me, and frustrated 15yrs of materials for #HistoryTeacher community have ended so abruptly.@TeamYouTube
— Mr Allsop History (@MrAllsopHistory) June 5, 2019
A link on Mr Allsop History’s profile directs users to a page called Mr. Allsop History. com run by Scott Allsop, a history teach and head of humanities at a university in Romania. His YouTube account featured various historical clips covering aspects of world history, including content explaining the Nazi era. Others are getting caught in the web as well.
Ford Fischer, a documentary filmaker, was also affected. “Within minutes of @YouTube‘s announcement of a new purge it appears they caught my outlet, which documents activism and extremism, in the crossfire,” Fischer wrote Wednesday in a long Twitter thread.
He added: “I was just notified my entire channel has been demonetized. I am a journalist whose work there is used in dozens of documentaries.” Fischer is the editor-in-chief at News2Share, a group that reports on activism around the country. His group often interviews controversial figures, including people who associate themselves with the alt-right.
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