Google does not seem to want to change for the sake of its users.
According to an October 31 Bloomberg article, Google filed a statement with the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in response to a lawsuit challenge by conservative outlet PragerU. In the filing, Google argued that government regulation would have “disastrous practical consequences.”
Google further argued that enforcing the First Amendment to an online platform “would undermine important content regulation.” In the filing, the company said, “If they are bound by the same First Amendment rules that apply to the government, YouTube and other service providers would lose much of their ability to protect their users against offensive or objectionable content -- including pornography, hate speech, personal attacks, and terrorist propaganda.”
Bloomberg’s Peter Blumberg wrote that Google “made clear that even if it does discriminate on the basis of political viewpoints -- which it denies -- it can’t be forced to change.” While the First Amendment doesn’t apply necessarily to private companies, YouTube, Google’s sister company, tries to make the case that it is a neutral platform with no political bias.
However, this seems to hurt the social media platform more than help it. PragerU founder Dennis Prager said, “If Google, the owner of YouTube, would announce it is a left-wing advocacy group, that would make a lawsuit harder to defend.”
Not only that, but YouTube also doesn’t seem to regulate most offensive or objectionable content, unless it fits with its agenda. By banning gun channels, banning gun instructional videos, white supremacist propaganda, conspiracy theorist Alex Jones and Infowars, YouTube seems only interested in regulating what the liberal media loves to focus on. Terrorist propaganda, pornography, and other objectionable content often stays up for longer than it should on YouTube.
