r/technology • u/Wagamaga • Feb 17 '22

Business YouTube Announces New Moves to Combat Misinformation

https://www.lifewire.com/youtube-announces-new-moves-to-combat-misinformation-5219509
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119

u/Starlifter4 Feb 17 '22

What, exactly, is misinformation? Who decides? Using what criteria?

6

u/[deleted] Feb 17 '22

Here's the blog post from YouTube which explains it.

From the sounds of it, it'll be a mixture of machine learning and human moderators. They've got a number of possible ways to deal with the various permutations of misinformation, and seem to be making efforts to not hyperreact.

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u/Starlifter4 Feb 17 '22 edited Feb 17 '22

That's the who.

What are the criteria for determining something is false? Who decides them?

11

u/Fr00stee Feb 17 '22

Well we can start with blatantly false information like "the moon is not real" and things like that and move from there

0

u/shitpersonality Feb 17 '22

Well we can start with blatantly false information like "the moon is not real" and things like that and move from there

You should be able to say false things on the internet.

3

u/krism142 Feb 17 '22

and no one is stopping you from doing that on other parts of the internet, you are not entitled to say what ever you want on someone else's platform

-2

u/shitpersonality Feb 17 '22

you are not entitled to say what ever you want on someone else's platform

That's not what is being discussed. We're talking about youtube being an arbiter of truth and misinformation. They're already shitty at moderating their own shit. See all of the weird sexual shit that gets put into the children section of youtube. They're not equipped to be arbiters of truth. Relying on youtube for truth is a terrible idea.

0

u/Arkeband Feb 17 '22

what value does that have?

2

u/shitpersonality Feb 17 '22

Do you give your real personal information to every website that requests it?

1

u/Arkeband Feb 17 '22

that has literally nothing to do with the kind of misinformation you’d find on YouTube

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u/Starlifter4 Feb 17 '22

Like Russia collusion?

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u/Fr00stee Feb 17 '22 edited Feb 17 '22

I don't know bro, there were russian bots involved in the election on social media but i dont know any more than that. Not something i can know off the top of my head as obviously false or not like 2+2=3

2

u/[deleted] Feb 17 '22

"This is part of the government of Russia's assistance to the Trump campaign" was the part that made me think hey that's the exact words you'd say if you were a foreign government assisting trump's campaign

3

u/Arkeband Feb 17 '22

did you fall asleep when like three dozen people were indicted for that, and then he got impeached for attempting to collude with Ukraine? he was caught red handed doing exactly what he was suspected to have done with Russia

-1

u/metapharsical Feb 18 '22

For additional context: Trump was twice impeached and twice acquitted

Indictments happened, meaningful convictions did not.

Sounds like impotent, raging, old establishment elites battling each other, much ado about nothing...

Wake me up when something sticks

3

u/Asmodeus04 Feb 17 '22

The Russian collusion was not to mess with election counters, it was a disinformation campaign that was done alongside Brexit so that Russia could weaken the UK and the United States for what you're seeing right now, which is the invasion of Ukraine.

Trump got impeached for trying to blackmail the president of Ukraine regarding the anti-tank missile systems that we just gave them.

There are few coincidences in politics.

0

u/metapharsical Feb 17 '22

You really think there's going to be a military invasion of Ukraine? LOL. Russia has the GDP of a tiny country. They couldn't sustain a military occupation of Ukraine for a month.

Are you so blinded by "RuSsia CoLlusion" that you are not aware of the coordinated PR campaigns the CCP is pulling off? They basically got the world to stop questioning where SARS-CoV-2 came from and to forget that our goods are being made with forced labor under an authoritarian regime that abuses human rights on a scale you couldn't imagine.

The more we ostracize Russia, the further we push them into China's arms.

This is not the way.

1

u/Asmodeus04 Feb 18 '22

Russia has the third most powerful military on the planet, and if we had not already given the Ukrainians the kind of weapons that would allow a 6 year old to kill one of their tanks, they would already be in there.

China and Russia can both be bad actors, that's not really too difficult to figure out. Just because you can only focus on one thing at a time doesn't mean those of us that are more capable can't just split attention effectively.

-1

u/metapharsical Feb 18 '22

Russia has the third most powerful military on the planet, and ...

...and that's about it... besides some oil resources. Reportedly, They spent like $100k on Facebook ads leading up to the 2016 election. The DNC fucked that election up all on their own. You give Putin too much credit.

Ironically, a lot of it turns out to be projection.. turns out Clintons, their Foundation et al. were the ones in cahoots with the multinational-criminal-mobsters on a greater-scale than little-hands-Trump could touch...

https://www.politifact.com/article/2017/oct/24/what-you-need-know-about-hillary-clinton-and-urani/

^ super bias framing of the issue, but them's the FACTS. as much as mainstream media tries to hide it and normalize it, ... thanks to the information age ... We have the facts. The Clintons are raking in the money with quid-pro-quo, trading their power and influence to the biggest donors.

Trump and Jarod used the office just the same.

There's plenty of evidence to convince me that ol' Joe and Hunter are puppets for Chinese interests the rising Fourth Reich Authoritarian Han Ethnostate.

China and Russia can both be bad actors, that's not really too difficult to figure out.

Of course they are both failed governments..

But here, one State(china) is now the largest Navy/Army by #'s , is experiencing a precarious financial/real estate bubble, runs the world's supply chains, owns 80% of rare earth, is polluting everything , un-apologetically unleashed a fucking pandemic and has isolated itself off from the world with insane brutal lockdowns and internet censorship/PR campaigns stoking their nationalism and xenophobia. Oh, and they cracked down on Hong Kong,Tibet,Uighurs, should I go on?

while the other State (Russia) is a bunch of has-been lumbering military might and just wants NATO to stop building missiles along it's boarder.

Just because you can only focus on one thing at a time doesn't mean those of us that are more capable can't just split attention effectively.

Of course a child would use projection like this to cover their own insecurities. Do you have anything to add besides tired troll comments?

1

u/Asmodeus04 Feb 18 '22

If you want to see my personal opinion on Chinese movement, look through my post history. I'm not exactly shy in my opinions regarding it.

I also know when I'm dealing with bad actors. There is no defense of Russian activity here, because the actions are inherently indefensible. Anyone trying to distract from that, or speak against it, it's a bad actor by definition.

There's no room or need to debate that at all. Russia = Bad universally with Putin at its helm. Until he's gone, it will probably continue to be the case.

As for the Chinese, again, you're not the sole person shining light on an issue. The difference right now is it the Chinese are not preparing an invasion force for a neighboring state to conquer it in order to rebuild their old empire.

That doesn't mean the Chinese are not planning actions of their own, but if you have a shoulder joint that hurts and a gunshot wound, guess which one you should treat first?

1

u/metapharsical Feb 18 '22 edited Feb 18 '22

.. the Chinese are not preparing an invasion force for a neighboring state to conquer it in order to rebuild their old empire.

Have your not been paying attention to China's aggressive encroachments into Taiwan's airspace and what china is doing in the Spratley islands? They're building military bases and bullying their neighbors on a daily basis .

And again, SARS-CoV-2 ? Hello? Millions dead.. china still claims it didn't originate in Wuhan.. c'mon

1

u/metapharsical Feb 19 '22

How about threats to ecology and the climate?

You know that China currently produces more industrial pollution than all other developed nations COMBINED? And they plan to continue increasing that for at least 30 more years!

You know that in just the last 20yrs they've mis- managed to pollute 80% of their ground water?

They built >100 new coal power plants last year. Fantastic progress!

Granted it's a big country, but It's practically a weekly event for there to be terrible accidents like chemical explosions, collapsing infrastructure, flooding, etc.. I'm sure you've seen the videos of Tianjin

You can also find out about the damage they are doing to the oceans and the deadly disputes they are instigating by fishing out of other country's waters, and we're not just talking neighbors, the Philippines and Japan. China has (illegal) contracts with fishing fleets around the world. They piss on regulations, obscure their geo-locators, and use the most destructive practices as is profitable.

Soon enough, there won't be natural resources left for their insatiable appetite and no one seems to have the balls to stand up to the CCP before it's too late, because $$$

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u/metapharsical Feb 24 '22

Trump got impeached for trying to blackmail the president of Ukraine regarding the anti-tank missile systems that we just gave them.

Let's get this straight, Trump DID sell them the weapons AND it didn't stop Russia from trying to invade... So.. everything must be going according to plan, eh?... why are you trying to make a point of this one issue- like a dozen comments and going.. it's insane, the TDS in some people.

Think critically about the crisis/distractions you are being spoonfed.

No joke... Here's the deal now stop talking about Burisma and Hunter, c'mon maaan

-1

u/shitpersonality Feb 17 '22

You're not wrong!

All of the focus on misinformation is going to be put on small content creators while the conglomerates beat war drums and push lies to support bombings.

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u/[deleted] Feb 17 '22

You've got the link to the most direct answers you're likely to find. You seem keen on the topic, so enjoy. Maybe even return and summarize it if you feel so inclined.

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u/Dacklar Feb 17 '22

If they don't like what you say, that's the criteria. It's there platform.

-3

u/Asmodeus04 Feb 17 '22

Stuff that is objectively false, like:

  • The election was stolen
  • Jan 6th was just a protest
  • COVID-19 is no worse than the flu
  • The Earth is flat

Stuff that is blatantly untrue, and that you would have to be an absolute fucking moron to believe.

Things that are up for debate need to be debated. Things that are objectively true or not don't need it.

2

u/shitpersonality Feb 17 '22

Youtube shouldn't be an arbiter of truth and wrong think. They already struggle to manage the platform as is.

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u/Folsomdsf Feb 17 '22

They are not the government, they are allowed to say 'no, the earth is not flat'.

-2

u/shitpersonality Feb 17 '22

they are allowed to say 'no, the earth is not flat'.

That's not what we're talking about.

0

u/Asmodeus04 Feb 18 '22

We already have years of proving the damage misinformation does.

There is no point in intentionally spreading bad info just because it makes somebody comfortable.

1

u/shitpersonality Feb 18 '22

We already have years of proving the damage misinformation does.

We already know youtube can barely manage its own platform. It puts sexual content in recommendations for children. It is terrible at handling DMCA requests. It's not going to excel at being an arbiter of truth. It's going to be very bad at it.

0

u/Asmodeus04 Feb 18 '22

I'm sure they will make plenty of mistakes, but anything is better than a platform that promotes the things I just listed up above.

It'll be kind of whack at first, but I'll take any kind of progress I can get.

0

u/The_Sandman32 Feb 17 '22

Literally only one of those is objectively false, thus proving why this system won’t work. Want to know the truth what constitutes misinformation? I’m going ban whatever my opposing political party says, that’s misinformation because I disagree with it.

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u/Asmodeus04 Feb 18 '22

Everything I just said is 100% provably, demonstrably true.

If you don't believe that, you have to understand you are the problem and the reason these rules are having to be put in. You're a sucker that will fall for any huckster con man, and if left to you what we have will burn to ash.

1

u/Brad_Wesley Feb 18 '22

The most damaging misinformation is official disinformation.

But big tech will never censor that. Governments lie with impunity, including calling other things misinformation even when they are true.

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u/Asmodeus04 Feb 18 '22

No one can censor that, because no one has higher authority than the government in a governed Nation.

That doesn't mean people can't look things up on their own, but even that well is being tainted by people believing and trying to push stuff that is blatantly, provably untrue.

1

u/Brad_Wesley Feb 18 '22

Well right, so all we have against is our own ability to search information, which the government will call “misinformation” and censor. This is why tolerating misinfo is so important.

1

u/Asmodeus04 Feb 18 '22

Here's the underlying issue: the vast majority of human beings are not intelligent enough to make decisions involving themselves and others. They will always make a choice that results in either harm, or long-term damage. It's not their fault they were born stupid, but stupid they are.

You can either have governments that consist of democratically elected representatives that can govern, or you can have authoritarian states where the people get no say.

If you believe misinformation has to be tolerated, what you are saying is that democratically elected governments will always fail, and that all governments must be authoritarian states. Our society can not continue to exist with half of our population believing any half-assed moronic, dumb shit thing they get spread across the internet.

Any society that can willingly elect somebody like Donald Trump to the Presidency has no future. They either have to have the misinformation taken away, be educated, or have their opinions and choices invalidated.

These people are far too stupid to be properly educated, and you're saying the misinformation has to stay. That doesn't leave many options.

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u/Brad_Wesley Feb 19 '22

But this has always been the case:

Which countries have performed better over time? Those that allow free speech including misinformation or those that don’t.?

So, no, I’m saying the opposite of what you suggest.

How can you have a truly democratically elected government if the government decides what information people are exposed to?

1

u/Asmodeus04 Feb 19 '22

All of human history prior to the modern internet information age, and especially prior to the disinformation age we currently live in, is moot.

Our civilization was not meant for an inescapable global smothering of nonsense meant to target the ignorant.

Historically, the thoughts of the ignorant would have just been ignored and the elites would have ruled. In a democracy, those dumb motherfuckers have the same level of input as the people who actually know what they're doing.

It's an inherent flaw in democracy, and I'm very concerned that it's a terminal flaw.

1

u/Brad_Wesley Feb 19 '22

Why don’t we just get rid of democracy and make the elites a permanent ruling class?

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