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One billion hours of YouTube videos are viewed every day. Some of Youtube’s most popular clips have been observational moments caught on camera. But new breeds of creatives, known as ‘influencers,’ are becoming the modern broadcasters of the internet age.
YouTubers are increasingly using the platform and global audience to push the boundaries of free speech and promote their own brand of positive values.
Jouelzy, a creator from the US, says her strategy is to discuss weighty topics through a filter of popular culture.
“My audience loves Beyoncé. So we’ll start there, so it’s accessible, it’s enjoyable, it’s easy. But we’ll also talk about patriarchy, and black feminism, and the history of black feminism. But I’ll try to tie that in to Beyoncé performing while pregnant at the Grammys.”
But it’s not just a western phenomenon. Influencers around the world freely express their opinions, even in places where free speech has been suppressed in the past.
Shog Al Maskery, a Youtuber creator from Oman, identifies the problem with everyone having free speech on a global platform:
Everyone can’t have the full freedom they are looking for, because your freedom will clash with another person’s freedom.
Freedom of speech comes with its difficulties. Like Facebook, Twitter and other digital platforms, YouTube is being forced to grapple with complex decisions about censorship. It aspires to be politically neutral, but it doesn’t allow hate speech.
However, what is hateful to one may not be to another and so it becomes difficult to police, and censorship comes into question.
A Youtube creator from Ireland, Riyadh says, “The moderation teams in big organisations like Youtube have got to try and figure out where that line is that we draw - and it’s constantly changing because society is changing.”
Copyright 2017, The Economist Newspaper Limited. All rights reserved.
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