UPDATE: YouTube reinstated the channel—after a full-scale media outcry. Original post follows.
Right Wing Watch archives notable statements and claims by conspiracy theorists, bigots and other right-wing outlets. Today YouTube banned its channel permanently, citing "repeated violations of our Community Guidelines". It subsequently denied an appeal.
The irony is that Right Wing Watch is being penalized for material it archives, but much of the material is from far-right YouTube accounts that are not penalized for it.
Meanwhile, many of the far-right extremists merely exposed by RWW remain on the platform.
"Our efforts to expose the bigoted view and dangerous conspiracy theories spread by right-wing activists has now resulted in @YouTube banning our channel and removing thousands of our videos," Right Wing Watch wrote on Monday. "We attempted to appeal this decision, and YouTube rejected it."
Google/YouTube is a private company and it can do whatever it wants with its website. But this should be understood as an example of the choices and incentives that so-called "big tech" prioritizes. Contrary to right-wing myth, these companies are far from liberal or progressive in character. But nor are they simply disinterested corporate shareholder-value machines. They are run by people who constantly and desperately supplicate to conservatives in a futile quest to be liked and accepted by them, which is one reason why the systems they create to streamline and expedite content moderation (human, algorithmic and otherwise) tend to serve conservative interests.
