I had a chance last year to engage Presidential candidate Ben Carson in a back and forth about the issue of what to do in Syria, Iraq and dealing with ISIS. I recorded and loaded onto youtube this nerdy discussion for all to see. And to underwrite my efforts, I choose to monetize the video in an effort to recoup the amount of the time and effort I put into the video.
But youtube and their corporate owner Google have informed me that “your video or video details aren’t advertiser-friendly. As a result, your video can’t be monetized”. When I looked through all their guidelines I found this:
- Controversial or sensitive subjects and events, including subjects related to war, political conflicts, natural disasters and tragedies, even if graphic imagery is not shown
So my attempt to inform the public about the foreign policy position of a presidential candidate was unacceptable content for their advertising platform. So if anyone wanted to develop content that informs people on public policy issues involving foreign policy and questions about war and peace, you won’t be able to use Youtube as platform to monetize your content and develop a sustainable business model.
Just one more disturbing example of the dumbing down of the Democratic discourse in the digital age and also an example of how Google, Facebook and other platforms are not operating in the public interest.
So tell me, is this video so objectionable that it warrants being labeled advertiser-unfriendly?