Talk:Censorship by Google

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On November 10, 2021 the YT announced that it will hide a number of dislikes of videos. I propose to mention this. See also [1], [2] and Official Video AXONOV (talk) ⚑ 08:38, 29 November 2021 (UTC)

Are there any sources that specifically call it censorship? Otherwise, I doubt we could, or should, mention it. I'll look more later, but so far I've found this, however the website may not be an RS, according to some of the discussions I have seen about it's use. INDT (talk) 09:28, 29 November 2021 (UTC)

I agree that there may be no WP:RS. I won't insist if none is provided by someone. Regards. AXONOV (talk) ⚑ 14:03, 29 November 2021 (UTC)

I would not consider that censorship either, unless RS's state otherwise. However, I am shocked that this information isn't on Criticism of YouTube, where it definitely belongs. InfiniteNexus (talk) 04:21, 30 November 2021 (UTC)

@InfiniteNexus: Yup. Feel free to move this discussion to the Talk:Criticism of YouTube page if none minds. I also suggest to use tags like {{moved}} and {{moved from}}.--AXONOV (talk) ⚑ 07:02, 30 November 2021 (UTC)

Definitely agree about adding this to Criticism of YouTube, almost every source I have seen has either called the move heavily controversial, or directly criticised it. INDT (talk) 07:20, 30 November 2021 (UTC)

It's not really a censorship.Cwater1 (talk) 14:45, 23 October 2022 (UTC)

COVID-19 medical misinformation policy

Google has published terms of service that allow them to take down videos that "spread" misinformation about COVID-19: [3]. There is plenty of abuse cases to find out I'm sure. It would be hard for a third party to verify fairness of policy application. AXONOV (talk) ⚑ 09:14, 25 December 2021 (UTC)

Indeed, Google mentions ivermectin and hydrochlororoquine many many times in their policy as of today's date, here is a sample of censored content:

"Content that recommends use of Ivermectin or Hydroxychloroquine for the treatment of COVID-19. Claims that Hydroxychloroquine is an effective treatment for COVID-19. Categorical claims that Ivermectin is an effective treatment for COVID-19. Claims that Ivermectin and Hydroxychloroquine are safe to use in the treatment COVID-19."

Now, it is irrelevant to this discussion what the science is, because it is definitely not the case that Google has the expertise to adjudicate therapy. For example, ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine are chemical names and as such are not proper nouns, i.e., they are never capitalized if they do not begin a sentence. This is sufficient to illustrate that Google has not the slightest clue as to how one evaluates any drug therapy; they show an ignorance of the difference between expensive, capitalized trade names and cheap chemical names such that they are in no position to be able to even read the literature, never mind make 'holier than thou' pronouncements about the literature based on sources they are in no position to evaluate for lack of any demonstrable subject competency. 207.47.175.199 (talk) 01:07, 3 April 2022 (UTC)

What is wrong with removing lies that can harm large numbers of people? Would you say it is OK to post that you should take heroin for Covid? This has nothing to do with Google evaluating drugs. The medical researches have done that. WP:NOTAFORUM O3000, Ret. (talk) 10:48, 2 July 2023 (UTC)

Is this a page about censorship or the american "liberal" censorship campaign ? 2A01:CB00:118C:7600:C98B:AC57:F341:3904 (talk) 09:42, 1 December 2023 (UTC)

Makes no sense

"Note that YouTube is a privately owned forum and the freedom of speech does not necessarily apply" - what? That does not make any sense, neither grammatically nor logically. Maybe this was meant to convey that Youtube is not necessarily bound to the First Amendment of the US constitution? Completely different concept. 2A02:8108:2C3F:AC2C:447D:4D16:C09A:101A (talk) 16:43, 20 December 2022 (UTC)

Calling the war as a "Russian aggression" (near the end of the article) is clearly subjective and biased

— Preceding unsigned comment added by 81.101.90.88 (talk) 18:03, 6 June 2024 (UTC)

Rather a lot of sourcing for this. O3000, Ret. (talk) 18:24, 26 June 2024 (UTC)

Absolutely no mention in this page about the censorship in comment section.

Posting a link is practically impossible, which is necessary to cite sources in a proper argument. Cant even send a doi number due to ridiculous "spam" filter.

The "spam" filter. Ambiguous and arbitrary, like most stuff in youtube.

Calling out someone for the unwanted behavior ends up making your comment disappear, just because you used certain words which describe it, while they keep doing it.

Shadow ban, or worse, sometimes due to previous issues flagging you. Absolutely no feedback or a way to appeal especially if you are just a viewer.

The irony of democracy, which is completely absent in any corporation today. 185.180.31.249 (talk) 18:19, 26 June 2024 (UTC)

Don't know what you are talking about. In any case, you have provided no reliable sources. Your own experiences are original research which is not allowed.O3000, Ret. (talk) 18:22, 26 June 2024 (UTC)

I dont really care if you know what I talk about or not. But if you wnat links, I will provide one where possible.

1- Here it is, you can find in here, a page which is literally made by google, that confirms they block links. https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/9483359?hl=en#zippy=%2Cblock-comments-with-links

2- This one is literally about the ambiguity of the inner workings of youtube keeping people in dark, and asking a source about this is absurd. But still here are some articles that point to this issue. https://www.independent.co.uk/tech/youtube-bias-algorithm-theirtube-mozilla-conspiracy-theory-videos-a9624936.html

You can clearly see here youtube is secretive, and doesnt really tell people how stuff works.

3- Again, and asking a source about this is absurd. It is a well known fact that certain words will get deleted in youtube.

4- You are welcome to try to reach youtube, about any issue. You will find no help. Again, this is no secret, and quite easy to prove. https://www.engadget.com/2020-02-28-youtube-video-removal-appeal-process.html

Now I am sure you will claim this is not a "reliable source" . Any search on topic will bring more articles about the problem.

5-Self explanatory. Do you really think corporations run on democracy? 185.180.31.249 (talk) 18:46, 26 June 2024 (UTC)

"This is no secret" is unfortunately not good enough of a "source" for an encyclopedia like Wikipedia that only add content that can be sourced with "reliable third party sources" (see WP:RS). Any content that can not reference such a source, will be deleted.

The Independent UK link you provided would qualify as such a reliable source, but it looks like it might rather belong into the YouTube article than this Google article. But note: it is common standard for websites to block certain words (e.g., profanity or ethnic slurs). So, blocking certain words does not constitute "censorship" per se. For it to qualify as censorship it probably would need to be more like "blocking certain opinions". And for it to be mentioned as "censorship" on Wikipedia, you need to find a reliable source that calls the blocking of words as "censorship". If The Independent UK article you linked just says "YouTube blocks words", then you can't write on Wikipedia "YouTube is censoring things according to an article of The Independent UK", because that's not what The Independent UK said. If The Independent UK says "This is censorship" then you can write on Wikipedia that "The Independent UK calls this blocking of words 'censorship'".

As for the other links you provided, I don't know whether Engadget is a reliable third party source or not, but I note that the article also seems to be about YouTube rather than Google and therefore might rather belong in the Wikipedia article on YouTube, not here. And when it comes to the Google support link you provided, this is a "primary source" (see WP:PRIMARY). Primary sources are usually not suitable for Wikipedia (though there are exceptions), because drawing conclusions from statements in primary sources would be "original research" (see WP:OR). You can only include it if a reliable third party source such as The Independent UK says: "Google is censoring things, which is something they point out themselves on their support website, see [link here]". And once again, the link you provided is talking about YouTube. Nakonana (talk) 10:29, 30 June 2024 (UTC)

Is it that Google is complying with the Russian law banning LGBT people? native subtitle translator blocks the word lesbian I use a modified translator and it is uncensored on the word lesbian 217.66.154.62 (talk) 15:26, 29 August 2024 (UTC)

Which machine translator do you mean by "native subtitle translator"? Google Translate? Yandex Translate? Neither of them blocks the word. Maybe it's the platform (e.g. YouTube or a particular YouTube channel) that is blocking it. You'd also have to keep in mind that machine translators are at least partially crowdsourced, i.e. users can add and alter translations. Google Translate was quite a mess when the war just started, translating completely harmless everyday words into swear words. But whether there is some perceived censoring going or not, we can't include it in the article until a reliable source reports about it. Nakonana (talk) 15:55, 29 August 2024 (UTC)

Google censoring "DEIDetected.com"

Recently Kabrutus, a brazilian Steam Curator Creator of "Sweet Baby Inc Detected" (Now - DEI Detected), noticed that his website - deidetected.com has been hidden from search results. In other search engines such as Yandex or DuckDuckGo, the website pointed above being showed in first rows, while Google does not have this website, but Steam and X (Twitter) links instead.

In my opinion, this should be added as separate topic 46.56.181.117 (talk) 16:04, 7 July 2024 (UTC)

Yes, has a reporter written about it? 173.197.99.96 (talk) 19:26, 6 September 2024 (UTC)

Linus Tech Tips DeGoogle your Life part 2

This reversion is in dispute. From some points of view, trying to halt the spread of information concerning how to provide services as offered can be seen as evidence of a conflict of interest due to the restriction on trusts which monopolize. Would a prime number based on the text of https://www.jwz.org/hacks/#youtubedown be a forbidden number? On the other hand, creators should be paid for their work; ideally in some proportion to the importance of their contributions. 173.197.99.96 (talk) 19:26, 6 September 2024 (UTC)

What does this have to do with this article. O3000, Ret. (talk) 20:01, 6 September 2024 (UTC)

The "DeGoogle your Life" video series explores topics like digital privacy (how much about users should their profiles expose?), platform monopolies (are censors acting under one or more conflicts of interest?), and alternative technologies - all of which have broader implications worth considering. While we should be careful not to include original research, there may be reliable sources that discuss the series' impact and the debates it has sparked. Perhaps we could expand the article to include a "Reception and impact" section that covers some of these points more objectively to enhance the article's comprehensiveness without taking sides on the issues? 173.197.99.96 (talk) 20:20, 6 September 2024 (UTC)

During just the second quarter of 2024, about 8.4 million videos were removed from YouTube.[4] I've had them remove a dozen myself. The removal of one video does not rate inclusion unless the unlikely event of it hitting major reliable sources occurs. Certainly not in three separate articles a few days after it happened. And an encyclopedia cannot presume or speculate about whether Google is lying about the reason. O3000, Ret. (talk) 22:21, 6 September 2024 (UTC)

Please correct me if I am wrong, but I believe this is the first LTT video YouTube has removed. Of course, that in itself would not be noteworthy if LTT hadn't been making a business of reporting on Google, including their recent conviction in a United States federal court of law for violation of the antitrust laws concerning monopolization. Are we in agreement on those premises? 173.197.99.96 (talk) 02:33, 7 September 2024 (UTC)

Editors are free to believe what they want in their personal lives, it's not particularly relevant to what we include in articles. What matters is what reliable secondary sources say. Nil Einne (talk) 07:14, 7 September 2024 (UTC)

Linus Tech Tips are releasing a video this weekend explaining exactly why the video was taken down. Breifly mentioning it Violated googles Terms of service "promoting malicious and dangerous content technically". Hinting that is a broad term and joking users who watched the video backwards would get instructions to build a bomb.

Once that video release everyone while get a clear reason why the video was taken down. Linus has also hinted he would not pursue takedowns of reuploads of the video to Youtube. TagKnife (talk) 14:26, 7 September 2024 (UTC)

The video is live: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=apdZ7xmytiQ TagKnife (talk) 18:05, 7 September 2024 (UTC)

This does not at all give a clear reason for anything as he is not a YouTube spokesman. Nor do I see why it matters. Looking through the current contents of the article, blocking China and Iran, deceptive advertising, celebrity nudes, copyright violations, etc., this seems quite UNDUE. O3000, Ret. (talk) 20:38, 7 September 2024 (UTC)

It does, the video was taken down because he was promoting methods to download video from youtube, which is against the terms of service. TagKnife (talk) 17:19, 8 September 2024 (UTC)

Firstly, we cannot takes his word for this. Secondly, if it is the reason, I don't see how that is relevant to this article. Please read the article and see what it is about. O3000, Ret. (talk) 17:34, 8 September 2024 (UTC)

Here is an additional independent reliable source: Connor, Jak (8 September 2024). "Linus Tech Tips responds to YouTube controversy following anti-Google video takedown". TweakTown. Retrieved 9 September 2024.. While Tweaktown.com has not yet been mentioned in WP:RSN let alone WP:RSP, they clearly meet the WP:RS criteria. 2603:800C:D00:F512:CEDC:1CBB:6C80:F8FA (talk) 04:02, 9 September 2024 (UTC)

I don't see how this is RS. I also don't see why this minor mention just repeating what LTT said (while criticizing LTT) is useful. Also, you added this to Criticism of Google during this discussion, which is improper. O3000, Ret. (talk) 11:17, 9 September 2024 (UTC)

Protest in China

I am a librarian and have a screenshot of this rumor. It shows when you input, “protest in c” no suggestion for china comes, although it does for other countries. Would this verify the claim? JacobB04 (talk) 23:26, 18 October 2024 (UTC)

On its own, no. We would need a reliable secondary source showing its relationship to this article. O3000, Ret. (talk) 00:26, 19 October 2024 (UTC)