If you scroll through the comments here, you will undoubtedly come across some that simply say, "[flagged]".
You probably won't see many claims that Hacker News is censoring anything. That's because what is happening is not "censorship", but "moderation".
That is also the case with YouTube removing content. It is not "censorship", but "moderation".
It doesn't feel like moderation though, does it?
YouTube is not like a forum where a short public list of users make the decision to remove a comment. We're talking about a private list of employees removing videos, probably even indirectly via algorithms; and very few alternative places to post videos.
Those who are worried about YouTube "censoring" political discourse should already be worried about YouTube "moderating" discourse in general. What we really need are alternative platforms, each with different moderation goals.
You probably won't see many claims that Hacker News is censoring anything. That's because what is happening is not "censorship", but "moderation".
That is also the case with YouTube removing content. It is not "censorship", but "moderation".
It doesn't feel like moderation though, does it?
YouTube is not like a forum where a short public list of users make the decision to remove a comment. We're talking about a private list of employees removing videos, probably even indirectly via algorithms; and very few alternative places to post videos.
Those who are worried about YouTube "censoring" political discourse should already be worried about YouTube "moderating" discourse in general. What we really need are alternative platforms, each with different moderation goals.