Thread: EXCLUSIVE: YouTube Secretly Using SPLC To Police Videos

EXCLUSIVE: YouTube Secretly Using SPLC To Police Videos

February 27th, 2018

• YouTube is getting help from the left-wing Southern Poverty Law Center in its effort to identify extremist content.
• YouTube’s “Trusted Flaggers” police the platform for so-called hate speech to terror-related content.
• The SPLC has labeled pedestrian conservative groups as hate groups in the past.

The Southern Poverty Law Center is assisting YouTube in policing content on their platform, The Daily Caller has learned.
The left-wing nonprofit — which has more recently come under fire for labeling legitimate conservative organizations as “hate groups” — is one of the more than 100 nongovernment organizations (NGOs) and government agencies in YouTube’s “Trusted Flaggers” program, a source with knowledge of the arrangement told TheDC.

The SPLC and other program members help police YouTube for extremist content, ranging from so-called hate speech to terrorist recruiting videos.


All of the groups in the program have confidentiality agreements, a spokesperson for Google, YouTube’s parent company, previously told TheDC. A handful of YouTube’s “Trusted Flaggers,” including the Anti-Defamation League and No Hate Speech — a European organization focused on combatting intolerance — have gone public with their participation in the program. The vast majority of the groups in the program have remained hidden behind their confidentiality agreements.

The SPLC’s close involvement in policing content on YouTube is likely to cause consternation among conservatives who worry that they may not be treated fairly. The left-wing group has consistently labeled pedestrian conservative organizations as “hate groups” and has been directly tied to violence against conservatives in the past. Floyd Lee Corkins, who opened fire at the Family Research Center in 2012, said he chose the FRC for his act of violence because the SPLC listed them as a “hate group.”

It’s unclear when the SPLC joined YouTube’s “Trusted Flaggers” program. The program goes back to 2012 but exploded in size in recent years amid a Google push to increase regulation of the content on its platforms, which followed pressure from advertisers. Fifty of the 113 program members joined in 2017 as YouTube stepped up its content policing, YouTube public policy director Juniper Downs told a Senate committee in January.

Downs said the third-party groups work closely with YouTube’s employees to crack down on extremist content in two ways, both of which a Google spokesperson previously confirmed to TheDC.

First, the flaggers are equipped with digital tools allowing them to mass flag content for review by YouTube personnel. Second, the partner groups act as guides to YouTube’s content monitors and engineers designing the algorithms policing the video platform but may lack the expertise needed to tackle a given subject.

“We work with over 100 organizations as part of our Trusted Flagger program and we value the expertise these organizations bring to flagging content for review. All trusted flaggers attend a YouTube training to learn about our policies and enforcement processes. Videos flagged by trusted flaggers are reviewed by YouTube content moderators according to YouTube’s Community Guidelines. Content flagged by trusted flaggers is not automatically removed or subject to any differential policies than content flagged from other users,” said a YouTube spokesperson, who would not specifically comment on the SPLC’s participation in the program.

The SPLC did not return multiple voicemails and emails seeking comment.

The overwhelming majority of the content policing on Google and YouTube is carried out by algorithms. The algorithms make for an easy rebuttal against charges of political bias: it’s not us, it’s the algorithm. But actual people with actual biases write, test and monitor the algorithms.

As noted above, Google’s anonymous outside partners (such as the SPLC) work closely with the internal experts designing the algorithms. This close collaboration has upsides, Google’s representatives have said, such as in combatting terrorist propaganda on the platform.

But it also provides little transparency, forcing users to take Google’s word that they’re being treated fairly.

The SPLC has faced criticism for its cavalier definitions of “hate group” and “extremist.” The organization stoked controversy in 2015 by labeling Dr. Ben Carson, now the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), an anti-gay “extremist.” After a backlash, the SPLC reversed its ruling and apologized to Carson.

The organization faced a similarly intense backlash in 2016 for labelingMaajid Nawaz, a respected counter-extremism activist, an “anti-Muslim extremist.” (RELATED: SPLC Says Army Bases Are Confederate Monuments That Need To Come Down)

The Washington Examiner’s Emily Jashinsky noted last year that “the SPLC’s claim to objectivity is nothing less than fraudulent, a reality that informed observers of its practices from both the Left and Right accept.”

“The routine of debunking their supposedly objective classifications occurs like clockwork each time a major outlet makes the mistake of turning to them when reporting on the many conservative thinkers and nonprofits the group absurdly designates as hateful.”

The SPLC has faced tough criticisms not just from conservatives but from the mainstream press as well.

“At a time when the line between ‘hate group’ and mainstream politics is getting thinner and the need for productive civil discourse is growing more serious, fanning liberal fears, while a great opportunity for the SPLC, might be a problem for the nation,” Politico Magazine’s Ben Schreckinger wrote last year.
Bloomberg columnist Megan McArdle similarly noted last year that the SPLC commonly lumps in principled conservatives alongside actual racists and extremists and warned of the possibility that tech companies could rely on the SPLC’s misleading definitions.

“Given the increasing tendency of powerful tech companies to flex their muscle against hate groups,” she wrote, “we may see more and more institutions unwittingly turned into critics or censors, not just of Nazi propaganda, but also of fairly mainstream ideas.”

Peter Hasson


http://amp.dailycaller.com/2018/02/2...er-censorship/

Related:

LIES: YouTube Says They “Accidentally” Deleted Conservative Videos and Took Down Conservative Channels

https://www.alipac.us/f19/lies-youtu...conser-356329/

Disgusting. If this doesn't verify that Google is rotten to the core, nothing could.

YouTube is Shutting Down Conservative Criticism of CNN over Parkland Shooting

AFP

by ALLUM BOKHARI & CHARLIE NASH
28 Feb 2018

Under pressure from the mainstream media, YouTube is censoring videos attacking the credibility of anti-gun Parkland students. They say they’re only going after so-called “conspiracy theories” — but now they’re censoring criticism of CNN too.

Conservative YouTube creator and Berkeley student Ashton Whitty had her video, which criticized CNN and analyzed a clip from Tucker Carlson Tonight, removed from the platform after YouTube accused her of “bullying,” engaging in “personal attacks,” and “harassment,” despite the fact she rejected theories that the Parkland students-turned-media personalities were “crisis actors.” The video was eventually reinstated – two days later, when the news cycle had moved on.



“After Tucker Carlson’s interview with the boy who was asked to read a script for CNN, I made a YouTube video with the interview and my own commentary. Nothing in the video was rude or considered threatening,” explained Whitty, referencing a Parkland shooting survivor who claimed he was made to read off of a script on CNN.

“However, YouTube took my video down and gave me my first strike. In an email they sent me, they claimed I was bullying,” she continued. “All I offered was commentary, no different than other reporter. Again this was not a flag for using an interview from Fox News or a copyright flag, this was a flag for ‘bullying.’ They are claiming I am bullying CNN.”
Whitty’s full video was reuploaded to Vimeo and can be viewed below.

“Because platforms like Google, Youtube, Facebook, and Twitter are such large platforms, they have taken over the internet and this very dangerous,” said Whitty. “They are censoring those with a different perspective and anyone who shares what the mainstream media won’t. They are disturbing the domestic tranquility by censoring viable and factual information that should be shared to the public. If this information was actually false and just some sort of trolling and wasn’t actually valuable or true, they wouldn’t work so hard to censor it.”
YouTube has also targeted the channel InfoWars, the site run by radio host Alex Jones. As a candidate, Donald Trump was interviewed by Jones on his radio show, and Jones remained a supporter of the President throughout the campaign.

InfoWars’ YouTube channel, which has more than 2 million subscribers, has now been blocked for two weeks over accusations that it posted “conspiracy theories” about Parkland. If it receives one more strike within three months, the channel will be permanently banned.

Lucian Wintrich of the Gateway Pundit says he has also been locked out of his YouTube account. Wintrich says the lockout occurred after he posted a video entitled “David Hogg Can’t Remember His Lines.” According to Wintrich, the YouTube video contained no commentary from him – it was simply a re-upload of the widely-shared video of Hogg’s interview with local media, in which he appears to receive encouragement from off-camera. The Gateway Pundit’s video has been re-uploaded to alternate platforms.
Google’s press team did not return a request for comment.

http://www.breitbart.com/tech/2018/0...-cnn-parkland/

YouTube Moves Towards Banning Conservative Vlogger for Correcting Parkland Shooting Conspiracy Theory
Ashton Whitty

by CHARLIE NASH
28 Feb 2018

Conservative YouTube commentator Ashton Whitty has been further sanctioned on the platform after she criticized the unverified claims of a Parkland student.

In the video titled “Florida Shooting Parents Teach Your Children,” which has since been removed by YouTube, Whitty criticized certain students’ attempts to become famous media personalities following the school shooting, and pointed out flaws in one student’s claims, including her claim that there was more than one shooter involved.

“YouTube is not a platform for things like predatory behavior, stalking, threats, harassment, bullying, or intimidation,” claimed YouTube in their email to Whitty. “We take this issue seriously and there are no excuses for such behavior.”

As well as having the video removed, Whitty also received a “strike” from YouTube on her channel. When a channel reaches three strikes, it is removed.

Whitty was previously sanctioned and censored by YouTube this week for another video, titled “Is CNN Coaching Kids,” which criticized CNN’s exploitation of the Parkland students for political gain, however, the video was reinstated two days later.

Ashton Whitty@ashtonbirdie

Just one day after @YouTube puts my video back up, they take another down. It’s almost as if someone is targeting me.
1:07 PM - Feb 28, 2018

“YouTube is targeting conservative channels, saying our commentary is ‘bullying’ yet they allow Southern Poverty Law Center to hunt us like rabbits, strip away our voices like the skin, and grill anyone slightly right of Karl Marx with the term ‘fascist,'” claimed Whitty in an email to Breitbart Tech. “When YouTube or any other large platform targets me, it doesn’t so much scare me. If anything, it just makes me angry and I let that anger motivate me.”

“I grew up in Berkeley, California, where I was raised by a family of limousine liberals who silenced me my entire life and when I decided to come out of the conservative closet, they exiled me,” she continued. “If I can stand losing my entire family for having a voice, I can handle a few Internet warlords.”

It is currently unknown if YouTube will reinstate Whitty’s video, as they did with the last, and remove the channel strike.

Other conservative YouTube channels have also been sanctioned for criticizing or examining aspects of the Parkland shooting news cycle.
As previously reported:

InfoWars’ YouTube channel, which has more than 2 million subscribers, has now been blocked for two weeks over accusations that it posted “conspiracy theories” about Parkland. If it receives one more strike within three months, the channel will be permanently banned.
Lucian Wintrich of the Gateway Pundit says he has also been locked out of his YouTube account. Wintrich says the lockout occurred after he posted a video entitled “David Hogg Can’t Remember His Lines.” According to Wintrich, the YouTube video contained no commentary from him – it was simply a re-upload of the widely-shared video of Hogg’s interview with local media, in which he appears to receive encouragement from off-camera. The Gateway Pundit’s video has been re-uploaded to alternate platforms.

Breitbart Tech has reached out to YouTube for comment.
http://www.breitbart.com/tech/2018/0...piracy-theory/

Same Far Left Group That Designated Singing Nuns as Hate Group Is Censoring Content for YouTube

by Jim Hoft 84 Comments

Outrageous… The far left Southern Poverty Law Center has repeatedly placed the “Singing Nuns” on its hate group map.

Here the Singing Nuns from Spokane sing “Ave Maria.”

A typical hate group, huh?

The Singing Nuns are traditional Catholic Sisters, members of the Congregation of Mary Immaculate Queen. In other words, they wear their full-length blue habits all the time — not just on special occasions or when they are singing. Their motherhouse, St. Michael’s Convent, is located at Mount St. Michael, just north of Spokane, Washington.

The far left SPLC says these traditional Catholic nuns are a hate group.

The SPLC is also behind a terrorist attack on a conservative organization in Washington DC.

In August 2012, a LGBT volunteer carrying bag of Chick-fil-A sandwiches shot up the conservative Family Research Council headquarters in Washington DC.

The shooter, Floyd Corkins, later admitted he got his information from the far left Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) website.
YouTube is using the Southern Poverty Law Center to decide which content is “extremist.”

The Daily Caller reported:

The Southern Poverty Law Center is assisting YouTube in policing content on their platform, The Daily Caller has learned.
The left-wing nonprofit — which has more recently come under fire for labeling legitimate conservative organizations as “hate groups” — is one of the more than 100 nongovernment organizations (NGOs) and government agencies in YouTube’s “Trusted Flaggers” program, a source with knowledge of the arrangement told TheDC.
The SPLC and other program members help police YouTube for extremist content, ranging from so-called hate speech to terrorist recruiting videos.

More…

Far Left Watch@FarLeftWatch

The SPLC is working with @Youtube to censor "extremist content".
The SPLC includes "hate music" in their list of "hate groups" but DOES NOT include armed communist militia groups that OPENLY call for political violence.
Why would Youtube use such a biased org to censor content?
9:48 AM - Feb 28, 2018


http://thegatewaypundit.com/2018/02/...ntent-youtube/

SPLC Confirms They’re Helping Police Videos On YouTube


PETER HASSON
Reporter

8:01 PM 03/01/2018

The Southern Poverty Law Center has confirmed The Daily Caller’s exclusive report that they are policing content on YouTube as part of YouTube’s “Trusted Flaggers” program.

The left-wing nonprofit — which has more recently come under fire for labeling legitimate conservative organizations as “hate groups” — is one of the more than 100 non-government organizations (NGOs) and government agencies in YouTube’s “Trusted Flaggers” program, a source with knowledge of the arrangement told TheDC.
The law center declined to return several requests for comment from TheDC but on Thursday confirmed their participation in the program in a statement to left-wing blog Think Progress.

“The Southern Poverty Law Center is greatly concerned about the spread of white supremacist propaganda online and believe that tech companies should enforce their own terms and service agreements,” SPLC’s director of their Intelligence Project told Think Progress.


The left-wing group has consistently labeled pedestrian conservative organizations as “hate groups” and has been directly tied to violence against conservatives in the past. Floyd Lee Corkins, who opened fire at the Family Research Center (FRC) in 2012, said he chose the FRC for his act of violence because the SPLC listed them as a “hate group.”

The SPLC and other “Trusted Flaggers” work closely with YouTube’s employees to crack down on extremist content in two ways, YouTube public policy director Juniper Downs told a Senate committee in January and a Google spokesperson previously confirmed to TheDC.

(RELATED: SPLC Says Army Bases Are Confederate Monuments That Need To Come Down)

First, the flaggers are equipped with digital tools allowing them to mass flag content for review by YouTube personnel. Second, the partner groups act as guides to YouTube’s content monitors and engineers designing the algorithms policing the video platform but may lack the expertise needed to tackle a given subject.

“We work with over 100 organizations as part of our Trusted Flagger program and we value the expertise these organizations bring to flagging content for review. All trusted flaggers attend a YouTube training to learn about our policies and enforcement processes. Videos flagged by trusted flaggers are reviewed by YouTube content moderators according to YouTube’s Community Guidelines. Content flagged by trusted flaggers is not automatically removed or subject to any differential policies than content flagged from other users,” a YouTube spokesperson, who would not specifically comment on the SPLC’s participation in the program, previously told TheDC.

YouTube admitted to The Daily Caller News Foundation on Thursday that their content moderators recently purged a large number of conservative and right-wing channels on the website, but claimed the censorship was a mistake and attributed it to human error.

http://dailycaller.com/2018/03/01/sp...sted-flaggers/