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Matt Orfalea's avatar

Imagine learning that Vladamir Putin bans everyone in the world from questioning the integrity of any past election. Then realize this isn't Putin's authoritarian decree, but YouTube's.

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Bill Owen's avatar

Most people in Russia lead great lives.

I know, right?

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Sep 30, 2022
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Bill Owen's avatar

There is nothing to test, the enduring powers control YT for political reasons and for opinion control. Their algos are written to that end. If the algos fail to shape the output correctly, then there will be human intervention from Langley.

Thought and opinion control is the name of the game.

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Sam Horton's avatar

They’re all corporatist. I remember those things too. On China that was both Clinton and Bush, for example.

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Sep 30, 2022
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countykerry's avatar

Gene, wasn't it Bill Clinton that negotiated China into the WTO ?

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Jeanne's avatar

Yes it was Clinton

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Sep 30, 2022
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Bill Owen's avatar

Selling out the proles is a bipartisan project.

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Sep 30, 2022
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Bill Owen's avatar

Page Ranking, Google's super secret sauce, does not get enough hate. Page Ranking is the way 'Google' and the CIA decide where a given search result will appear. If a result appears on page 1, 2, or 3 people will see it. If it's on page 15 it may as well not even be there.

Stuff that used to be easy for me to find on the Google is now very hard to find, and I am extremely good at online searches.

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Non-Compassionate Liberal's avatar

Oh, yes. So frustrating! When I get in comment wars it's much harder for me to find information that proves my point. I blame this on mainly the Dems when after the 2016 election with them screaming about about so-called Russian interference, Google then fixed it so only "authoritative" news-sites like NY Times, CNN, Fox Noise and MSDNC would come first in the rankings (you probably already know this). Also WAPO when they published a list of so-called Russian backed news sites produced by some shadowy group, "PropOrNot" that included WikiLeaks, Counterpunch, Zero Hedge, Free Thought Project, Drudge Report, Truthout, Black Agenda Report, Truthdig, Naked Capitalism, Antiwar.com, Ron Paul Institute, et al.

I've tried to find other search engines but they all seem about the same as far as rankings.

The DuckDuckgo chief Gabriel Weinberg has said that they use Google's results "more than anything else."

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Bill Owen's avatar

DDG's CEO also said that he would be censoring Russian 'disinformation'. Another word for "disinformation" is "information".

"Last week, Gabriel Weinberg announced that his company would be combating Russian disinformation. “Like so many others I am sickened by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the gigantic humanitarian crisis it continues to create,” he wrote on Twitter. “At DuckDuckGo, we’ve been rolling out search updates that down-rank sites associated with Russian disinformation.” Although the move was more or less in line with how other major online platforms have been responding to the Russian invasion, pushback from DuckDuckGo’s user base has been pronounced. More than 30,000 users on Twitter have responded to Weinberg’s post with largely negative comments about the decision, accusing the company of engaging in censorship and injecting bias into search results. Breitbart ran a piece attacking DuckDuckGo as “Diet Google,” and high-profile libertarian YouTubers have also told their followers to stop using it."

All that aside if I was a spook I l would create a "privacy based" search engine and then just sit back and "collect it all".

"At the time, more than 100 teams of US analysts were scouring Iraq for snippets of electronic data that might lead to the bomb-makers and their hidden factories. But the NSA director, Gen. Keith B. Alexander, wanted more than mere snippets. He wanted everything: Every Iraqi text message, phone call and e-mail that could be vacuumed up by the agency's powerful computers.

"'Rather than look for a single needle in the haystack, his approach was, 'Let's collect the whole haystack,' said one former senior US intelligence official who tracked the plan's implementation. 'Collect it all, tag it, store it. . . . And whatever it is you want, you go searching for it. . . . .

"It also encapsulated Alexander's controversial approach to safeguarding Americans from what he sees as a host of imminent threats, from terrorism to devastating cyberattacks.

"In his eight years at the helm of the country's electronic surveillance agency, Alexander, 61, has quietly presided over a revolution in the government's ability to scoop up information in the name of national security. And, as he did in Iraq, Alexander has pushed hard for everything he can get: tools, resources and the legal authority to collect and store vast quantities of raw information on American and foreign communications."

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Non-Compassionate Liberal's avatar

I was in a comment war, so to get some proof on how many lies that were pushed on and believed by Americans I put this phrase into a Google search: "biggest lies pushed on Americans" – the first 29 results were about Trump.

This search engine – metager.org – had way fewer Trump mentions. I think it might also skew towards the right. The 9th result down had this site: "Real Jew News."

So it's certainly different than Google, et al.

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Bill Owen's avatar

Present or past tense - because the list is very long?

1. Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone

2. Bin Laden brought down three buildings with two planes

3. !PTUIN! interfered in a US election to help Trump win

4. The bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki was necessary to save lives

5. Communism is a threat to humanity

6. Work hard and you will be rewarded

7. North Vietnam attacked the Maddox

8. Israel is the greatest country in the world

9. America is the greatest country in the world

10. Saddam had WMD

YMMV

One thing was true though, "I have one word for you. Plastics." - The Graduate

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Bill Owen's avatar

Amazing.

Did you know that Google gives different results on the same string, depending on who is asking? It does.

I tried to find Wes Clark's quote on the list of countries to be destroyed a while ago. Normally it would have come right up. Not anymore. Wound up going to Duck Duck, who are not much better.

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Charles Newlin's avatar

IOW, it's now a lousy search engine. I don't understand why anyone uses it. Almost any other is better.

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lucrezia's avatar

The ruling class is $$$$$$$$.

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Matt Orfalea's avatar

I don't think it's fair to say that mocking or simply reporting false claims "advances" false claims. But of course, in addition to arbitrarily deciding what's false, YT will arbitrarily decide what "advances" false claims. Super dystopian.

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FNR's avatar

they are drunk with power, fleeting as it is until they are forced to admit "a mistake" with a straight face and expect fellow adults to take them seriously.

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Anon38901932047's avatar

yes. and the power they have is the kind that comes from being a near monopoly. we the people should do everything possible to limit, restrain, break the monopolistic tendencies of both this particular company and the online video market itself.

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Sam Horton's avatar

It is useful to remember where that YT leader came from -- she just happened to rent a coupe of guys a garage. That’s all.

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lucrezia's avatar

Don't flatter yourself, Orfalea. Your little video was red-flagged by YouTube's algorithms as a threat to its bottom line. Nothing more or nothing less. Ideology---correct or incorrect----means very little to The Algorithm.

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Bill Owen's avatar

How do you know what the Google algo does?

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lucrezia's avatar

Friends who have worked at google.

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Staabloblaw's avatar

Imagine if you were a self-described conservative that posted this video... There would be zero chance YouTube would have reversed this

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Non-Compassionate Liberal's avatar

I agree, and I'm a liberal.

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rob's avatar

exactly, only the combined weight of several big names changed this.

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Blimbax's avatar

My sentiments, exactly.

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Matt Orfalea's avatar

YouTube has just demonetized another TK News video: "Trump's Lab Leak "Conspiracy Theory""

https://twitter.com/0rf/status/1575848510184124416?s=20&t=7H8p_NmRLmrWHQ35_tBkhAz

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Sep 30, 2022
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Bill Owen's avatar

Cure is worse than the disease?

No, not really.

People en masse are irrational if not insane, and there has never been a better example of this then covidiocy. I will get my bivalent vax soon, and why not?

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DarkSkyBest's avatar

This is serious? "TeamYouTube" reverses its unjustified censorship expressing apology with emojis? What a world we live in.

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Lillia Gajewski's avatar

A deadly unserious one.

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Mark Nockleby's avatar

indeed.

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Bill Owen's avatar

Yeah it came off as weirdly puerile.

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DarkSkyBest's avatar

Or, like getting an apology text from HAL, right before it locks the pod bay door.

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Bill Owen's avatar

The story of HAL is a case-in-point on how money routinely inserts itself into our conversations and media even back then. Today? They are in every script room.

https://slate.com/culture/2013/01/hal-9000-ibm-theory-stanley-kubrick-letters-shed-new-light-on-old-debate.html

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Jon's avatar

So, I'm a 65 YO man, and I have to share that I've been feeling lately, that there is a new page turning. We've totally played out the partisan spin, and people are showing up in private clubs (stacks) and discussing current topics in a disassembled manner, which allows both left and right components in the same conversation. Both sides are returning to the core tenants; Free speech and Freedom of the Press, and using those as the foundation, we all agree a lot more on the next steps.

I love all you guys, and Glenn, Bari, and Sasha, who's just exploding.

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FNR's avatar

I hope you are right. sane liberals like Matt T, Glenn G, and Bill Maher calling out the extremist nonsense and authoritarianism of the Left is an excellent turn of events over the last couple of years.

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lucrezia's avatar

Uh-huh.

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SimulationCommander's avatar

Incidentally, that's why they're terrified that we'll start talking and constantly try to keep us at one another's throats. The Tea Party and ONS were basically two wings of the same bird, and that scared the crap out of the bankers running things.

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JPER's avatar

Have you ever heard Tim Pool tell the story about OWS? Short version, he said when it started it was a diverse group of ordinary people who were just fed up. Totally unified. Then a random group of activists showed up and starting making it about racial issues and it divided everyone. People just started to leave. Pretty sad

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SimulationCommander's avatar

Not to mention the agent provocateurs sent in to stir shit up to give the cops the excuse to roll in.

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J Boss's avatar

Unified focus drives change. Loss of they focus leads to irrelevance.

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lucrezia's avatar

"Tim Pool"

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Unset009's avatar

The Tea Party was a libertarian movement. Granting that the Ron Paul wing of the party lost control almost immediately. OWS wasn't libertarian leaning at all. While they may have generally had the same grievance, they had wildly different solutions. Given that, if they won substantial political power respectively, I'm not sure they could have come together to create solutions.

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SimulationCommander's avatar

Yes but they were both against the bankers, and if we had been allowed to talk, we would have figured that out. (Of course, as you say, the hard part is convincing OWS that the answer doesn't involve more government)

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lucrezia's avatar

The Tea Party was libertarian, yes, if you're able to view American libertarianism as a disingenuous mutant-hybrid of the American far-right mind. Mostly it was a private, boutique political project---an astroturfing operation bankrolled by those kooky Koch brothers.

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trembo slice's avatar

After the grassroots movement that spawned the Tea Party was co-opted maybe, but Unset is conveying what actually transpired.

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lucrezia's avatar

"They're terrified." Sincerely doubt it.

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rob's avatar

maybe

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Ryan Murray's avatar

Fuck YouTube and fuck big tech.

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RRDRRD's avatar

Don't forget Brandon

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ProfessorTom's avatar

With a dildo made of razor blades.

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alex glanz's avatar

Love is never having to say you're sorry....so this is not love from YT....just an acknowledgment that you attract a good share of followers. Mazel tov

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The Upright Man.'s avatar

Interesting. A little daylight, and things start to smell a little better.

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ProfessorTom's avatar

“the light of day is the best disinfectant” –Louis Brandeis

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Kathy Barkulis's avatar

They’re such assholes over there. Pajama wearing, momma’s basement dwellers playing god.

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Brad's avatar

Google and YouTube are staffed with raging progressives, activist employees who proudly bring their politics to work with them. This was no "mistake." The people wielding the levers behind the scenes were fully cognizant of what they were doing.

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Lars Porsena's avatar

Bullseye!

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lucrezia's avatar

"The people wielding the levers behind the scenes were fully cognizant of what they were doing..."

Correct---which is trying to squeeze as many nickels from The Algorithm as possible.

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Pacificus's avatar

They've already got plenty of nickels, they want ideological control, too. Don't doubt it.

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Bill Owen's avatar

Exactly, after your first few billion dollars, it just doesn't matter anymore, it's about that time that the ultragarchs turn their baleful gaze to the levers of power and control.

"I can understand about having millions of dollars. There's meaningful freedom that comes with that, but once you get much beyond that I have to tell you, it's the same hamburger." - Bill Gates

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Blissex's avatar

that is the usual .isdirection, those employees are allowed and endorsed bt Google, NYT, etc. policy to bring that specific line of politics. If they brought "deviant" politics to work they would lose their jobs quickly.

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Lars Porsena's avatar

Yeah, and they’ll,try to blame it on ‘The Algorithm’. But as you put, it’s some wokie in pjs in Mom’s basement with orders from the main office.

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Sea Sentry's avatar

Great visual Kathy. I couldn’t help laughing - thanks!

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Non-Compassionate Liberal's avatar

Whenever I see the word Demonetization, I get confused because it looks so close to the word Demonization.

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ProfessorTom's avatar

Google does no evil.

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Non-Compassionate Liberal's avatar

I've heard they removed their "Do No Evil" plaque from their wall.

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Bill Owen's avatar

https://gizmodo.com/google-removes-nearly-all-mentions-of-dont-be-evil-from-1826153393

"Google’s unofficial motto has long been the simple phrase “don’t be evil.” But that’s over, according to the code of conduct that Google distributes to its employees. The phrase was removed sometime in late April or early May, archives hosted by the Wayback Machine show."

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ProfessorTom's avatar

The plaque has no purpose if the saying is no longer headed.

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Sep 30, 2022
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publius_x's avatar

Don't mock those people. They have real beliefs, even if they are dark.

Mock the vegans and climate catastrophists first.

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Don's avatar

One of the ads I just saw on this newly monetized video was a Democratic fundraiser to "stop Donald Trump"!

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Lillia Gajewski's avatar

But of course.

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AJ Y's avatar

Backtracking until someone notices again.

To quote Alistair Moody, “Constant Vigilance!”

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ProfessorTom's avatar

Vigilance is the price of freedom.

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dd's avatar

I understand that a youtube of Italy's new prime minister was banned on youtube, but was returned today after complaints. Youtube stated that its banishment was a mistake.

https://reason.com/2022/09/28/giorgia-meloni-youtube-censorship-reinstated-italy/

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SimulationCommander's avatar

Mistakes wouldn't all go one direction.

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Jon's avatar

Seriously, those who still buy those 'mistakes' are too fucking stupid to breathe

Is someone studying the incidents of "left' versus 'right" bans and mistakes? I think that would be quite interesting.

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Pacificus's avatar

"Seriously, those who still buy those 'mistakes' are too fucking stupid to breathe"

There's a name for such people: leftists.

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lucrezia's avatar

Leftists. They're everywhere I'm telling you, everywhere.

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Brad's avatar

It's the equivalent of a referee only calling the game for one team. Team Blue. Meanwhile, Team Red gets shafted over and over.

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lucrezia's avatar

Appeal to the league office.

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Adam Non's avatar

"At least they're trying…"

But it really shouldn't take Joe Rogan going to Spotify or Matt 1 and Matt 2 confronting YouTube.

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Lars Porsena's avatar

They reversed on the new prime minister of Italy too.

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