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As content moderators started working from home, YouTube's reliance on automation resulted in double the video removals; Facebook saw removals steeply decline

When YouTube sent content moderators home in March due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it dramatically expanded its use of automated filters …

Protocol Issie Lapowsky

Discussion

  • @issielapowsky Issie Lapowsky on x
    NEW: After sending moderators home, YouTube doubled video removals in Q2 compared to Q1. In some categories like child safety and violent extremism, it tripled (!) That's a pretty different outcome than Facebook reported in Q2 https://www.protocol.com/... https://twitter.com/...
  • @rasmus_kleis Rasmus Kleis Nielsen on x
    After sending content moderators home, YouTube relied more on automation and doubled video removals in Q2 @issielapowsky reports. Company says that given choice btw “potential under-enforcement or potential over-enforcement” it “chose the latter”. Chilling https://www.protocol.co…
  • @evelyndouek Evelyn Douek on x
    YT said it “accepted a lower level of accuracy to make sure that we were removing as many pieces of violative content as possible” in light of the greatly reduced human review capacity Content moderation at scale is all about error choice https://papers.ssrn.com/... https://twitt…
  • @issielapowsky Issie Lapowsky on x
    Facebook saw a huge *decline* in removals, particularly on Instagram, when it came to the most graphic type of content in Q2. https://www.protocol.com/... https://twitter.com/...
  • @fabiochiusi Fabio Chiusi on x
    Opposite effects of increased reliance on automated filters for content moderation observed in YouTube and Facebook: YT doubled video removals, whereas FB and IG saw “steep declines”. https://www.protocol.com/...
  • @nealmohan Neal Mohan on x
    #COVID19 forced us to enlist more technology to enforce our policies against harmful content. We prioritized the safety of the @YouTube community, while trying to minimize disruption for @ytcreators. The latest numbers in today's transparency report: https://blog.youtube/... http…
  • @sarbjeetjohal Sarbjeet Johal on x
    After sending content moderators home, @YouTube doubled its video removals. The company said it had to “accept a lower level of accuracy” to protect YouTube users when it relied more heavily on algorithmic moderation. @MarshaCollier @EvanKirstel https://www.protocol.com/... https…
  • @rkyncl Robert Kyncl on x
    Great to see @protocol highlight our work to remove harmful content during #COVID19: https://twitter.com/...
  • @annemariebridy Annemarie Bridy on x
    “Facebook and YouTube often get lumped together as two social networks filled with the same filth.... But over the last six months, these two companies have taken two different approaches to the same problem, and they have yielded dramatically different outcomes.” https://twitter…
  • @issielapowsky Issie Lapowsky on x
    It's not apples to apples. Facebook reports on child sexual abuse material, while YouTube reports more broadly on child safety (including dangerous challenges, etc.). But the difference is still pretty stark. https://www.protocol.com/...
  • @mhbergen Mark Bergen on x
    Explanation from YouTube: “For certain sensitive policy areas, such as violent extremism and child safety, we accepted a lower level of accuracy to make sure that we were removing as many pieces of violative content as possible” https://blog.youtube/...