Communication Technology: Youtube

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Without a doubt, Youtube has an incredible monopoly over the industry of videos existing online. Created in 2006, the company is an online video sharing platform which is owned by Google. Currently there are billions of hours of content available to watch on Youtube, all for free. Youtube has launched a variety of paid extra services in the last few years, but the main functions of the website remain free to access. While their company has only existed for 15 years, they effectively created and set the precedent for the location and nature of the online video industry. As more and more people everyday use Youtube as an essential source of entertainment or aspect to their business, the need for consistency and ethical standard guidelines becomes imperative. Many people use Youtube as a form of income or artistic expression, and each of these purposes has thriving communities surrounding them resulting from the shared-experience of using the platform.

Personally, I have been a user of Youtube since I was about 13. I have content creators that I regularly watch and support. I very much enjoy the platform and overall think that its existence has inspired and connected countless people that would otherwise not have something in common. However, it has been clear over the past few years that Youtube proper is attempting to distance its own best interest from that of the individual creators. There have been issues with unfair ad usage and compensation on creator's videos, targeted and unfair copyright claims destroying innocent channels, backlogs of complaints and guideline violations, issues with fringe groups such as child predators and white supremacists receiving publicity from the platform, exploiting children for both obscene and monetary value, and recently, bots removing flagged videos with no human review or chance for creator appeal. Some of these issues deal with technological difficulties and unforeseen consequences of algorithm changes, etc... however many of the issues Youtube is frequently "caught" being involved in heavily implicate them (top officials within the company) as biased.

I think many of the recent events surrounding changes Youtube is making brings up an interesting dilemma. Originally, Youtube was created to support individual users and creators. However as Youtube proper creates more proprietary content and expands their services, its relatively logical that some of their efforts would shift into protecting their own self-interest. The question that we are left with is what level of duty does Youtube have to these independent creators to support them during this transition? Many people make their entire income from Youtube, and their collective interest is clearly competing with the expansion plan of Youtube. Some creators have chosen to move their bodies of work to newer platforms in the hopes of better structural support. Sites such as Twitch, WeedTube, and others have emerged for certain types of creators that have been particularly targeted by the changes in the platform. They could soon be in competition with Youtube if enough independent creators decide to leave and the original Youtube content continues to be met with mixed reviews.

Overall, I think the future of the platform is one to watch very closely as we continue to innovate and interact with our everyday communication technology.

Referenced:
https://www.theverge.com/2020/2/28/21157476/youtube-video-removal-appeal-takedown-community-guidelines-report

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