A group of Black YouTube creators is reportedly suing YouTube and its parent company Google over allegations that the Internet giant discriminates against their videos based on race.
CNET reports that a group of Black YouTube creators is suing YouTube and its parent company Google alleging that the firms discriminates against their videos based on their race. The lawsuit alleges that YouTube uses its automated moderation tools to “restrict, censor and denigrate” Black creators. The lawsuit alleges that while their videos are being suppressed, videos featuring racist speech are allowed on the platform even after being flagged for violating YouTube’s rules.
The complaint comes as protests and riots across the country continue following the death of George Floyd. YouTube has made donations to social justice initiatives following protests and made public statements in support of the Black Lives Matter movement.
YouTube announced a $100 million fund to support Black video creators this month, the lawsuit now states that the company has “some serious explaining to do” adding that YouTube and Google should “spend their money to stop the racist practices that pervade the YouTube platform.”
The plaintiffs in the lawsuit include creators associated with the Lisa Cabrera channel which has more than 20 million views. The channel Lisa’s View, which has approximately 11 million views; the channels The True Royal Family and True Royal, which have a total of 3.4 million views combined; and three channels linked to the creator Carmen CaBoom which have approximately 550,000 views combined.
YouTube stated on Thursday that it is reviewing the complaint and added that tit allows anyone the post videos that abide by the site’s policies and guidelines which it claims are enforced in a neutral and consistent way. YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki said during a virtual event with the Washington Post that the company is going to look at the complaint and “try to understand what concerns are there.”
Wojcicki stated during the virtual event that the events of the last few months have forced the company to reflect on its decisions and practices. “I just want to make sure that as we’re making decisions, I’m thinking about things in terms of being on the right side of history,” she said. “It might be hard right now, but how will we think about it in the future?”
Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship. Follow him on Twitter @LucasNolan or contact via secure email at the address lucasnolan@protonmail.com
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