Sky News Boss Lambasts YouTube For Suspension, "Opaque" Guidelines
Sky News Boss Lambasts YouTube For Suspension, "Opaque" Guidelines
BY TYLER DURDEN MONDAY, SEP 06, 2021 - 07:25 PM Authored by Daniel Yang via The Epoch Times,
Claims
that Sky News Australia is spreading COVID-19 misinformation are “frankly
ridiculous,” according to CEO Paul Whittaker, who issued a
stinging criticism of video-sharing giant YouTube, at a parliamentary inquiry on Monday.
Fronting the Standing Committee on Environment and
Communications, Whittaker questioned why the Google-owned tech giant could be
an arbiter of content.
“There is no expectation that our viewers agree with every
opinion expressed by every host, guest, or panellist,” he said.
“But it
now appears commonplace to discredit any debate on contentious issues as
‘misinformation’.”
“YouTube’s actions make clear that it is not a neutral platform,
but a publisher selectively broadcasting content and censoring certain views,
while allowing videos that are patently false, misogynistic, and racist to
proliferate,” Whittaker said.
“Why does
a tech giant, YouTube, and faceless, nameless individuals backed by an
algorithm, based in California, get to decide that holding governments and
decision-makers to account is ‘misinformation’? Why do they get to decide what
is and isn’t allowed to be news?” he said.
The committee is investigating the state of media diversity and
concentration in Australia.
The inquiry was launched following a petition spearheaded by
former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd to investigate the
influence of Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation.
In early August, YouTube suspended Sky News’
for one week for allegedly posting “COVID-19 misinformation,”
issuing a “first strike” against the 24-hour news channel—akin to a warning
under its three strikes policy.
Lucinda Longcroft, Google Australia’s director of government
affairs and public policy, told the inquiry earlier that the tech giant
enforced its own code on COVID-19-related content, claiming to work with health
and media authorities to combat false and harmful content.
“Where
there are videos that, without further context, assert that those drugs
[ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine] are effective we remove them because of the
danger and medical harm that could be caused to users,” Longcroft
said.
Over 5,000 “dangerous and misleading” videos were traced to
Australian IP addresses and removed by YouTube between February 2020 to March
2021, including 23 videos posted by Sky News.
Longcroft said Sky News’ content was removed due to violations
of the code as well as two breaches of political integrity guidelines.
However, Whittaker countered by saying that it was in the public
interest for alternative drugs to be discussed, especially because no vaccines
were available last year.
“Sky News Australia strongly supports
vaccination. Any claims to the contrary are false and a blatant attempt to
discredit and harm our news service,” he said.
“It’s a scientific debate that continues to this day.”
The CEO also said YouTube’s review process lacked transparency
and was “incapable of compliance.”
“Unlike other publishers’ policies, YouTube’s process for review
and removal of content lacks transparency and a clearly articulated process
which affords channel operators the opportunity to address concerns or to
challenge an assessment prior to a suspension occurring,” he said.
He claimed Sky News had attempted to seek confirmation from
YouTube on whether historical content would trigger any further action but said
no response was given.
“With no
transparency provided, Sky News took the proactive approach of removing a batch
of videos all published during 2020 from online platforms to ensure ongoing
compliance with YouTube’s arbitrary editorial guidelines,” Whittaker
said, noting it was not an admission of failure to comply with YouTube’s
regulations, but “merely an attempt to navigate opaque polices.”
He also raised comparisons with authoritarianism.
“If we’re
saying that YouTube is the model that we want our regulator to abide by. That
means we are saying they should be able to shutdown a major TV network with 30
minutes notice, with no complication, no explanation, no written justification,
no procedural fairness. That to me sounds more like authoritarianism or a
totalitarian state, rather than a liberal democracy.”
Silhouettes of mobile device users are seen next to a screen projection of YouTube’s logo in this picture illustration taken March 28, 2018. (Dado Ruvic/Illustration/Reuters)
Whittaker
said it was “beyond debate” that YouTube should be deemed a publisher that selectively
edited content for political and commercial reasons.
“But unlike traditional media it does not accept any of the
regulatory or legal burdens that being deemed a ‘publisher’ carries with it,”
he said, calling for “vigorous debate” on treating YouTube as a publisher.
Sky News has uploaded over 50,000 hours of content on YouTube
and has garnered over 1.98 million followers.
The channel has consistently covered updates on global
efforts to track down the origins of COVID-19, some of which were initially
dismissed as “conspiracy theories,” however,
other news outlets have since recognised the viability of these explanations.
https://www.zerohedge.com/technology/sky-news-boss-lambasts-youtube-suspension-opaque-guidelines
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