dstieger wrote:So.....(true to form) I'm going to have to first challenge the question and the assumptions....
I am unsure about the monopoly part. I get that the market share is massive and that Alphabet can 'improperly' leverage Google and other tools to make it even more unbalanced. However, I suspect there are reasonable alternative hosting options. And I hope that remains the case.
Yes, I imagine there are other alternatives, but 99.9% of eyes are on Google and YT. That's a tremendous amount of control over what's seen and what is not. Is it all capitalistic, or are there decisions made based on the corporation's moral agenda? I don't know. That's a helluva lot of power in one entity's hands.
dstieger wrote:I don't even know what self-censorship means. I try to restrict my use of the word 'censor' to government 'control' or other regulatory heavy handed influence.
I mean any action taken by them that is not in purely economic in nature. Placement or availability of certain group's information, messages or propaganda, regardless of how subtle it may be.
dstieger wrote:So, to sort of answer your question, I guess I do support YT's right to demonetize anything they choose. Did they flag, censor, remove, or restrict the videos in question?
I don't know. But if they choose to, who is going to stop them???
dstieger wrote:Did they simply choose to stop paying them money that they have no obligation to pay them? Was there a contract broken? Serious questions...I don't know anything about this story, or really about yt monetization, in general.
They have no real obligation to pay anybody anything. And by choosing to demonetize a singular category, such as cigar related videos, what is the actual intent?
dstieger wrote:That said, I do agree with your underlying point, that Google has, for years, been in a position to affect thoughts, beliefs, actions in ways that scare me. Scare me because I don't think 95+% of Google users know or care...and scare me because I don't know what it might take for Google (and Facebook) to earn my trust....not sure they know, either
It seems to me they have close to complete control over their market. Vids placed initially and more prominently get more views. Having the potential to sway public opinion in the direction they choose. Demonetizing certain ones will decrease their prominence and abundance.
To what extent is it happening? I don't know.
Will it become a bigger concern in the future? That's a good question...
And who will stop them anyway?