In a Twitter thread that quickly went viral, Maza argued that the company’s publicity campaign belied its lax enforcement of the content and harassment policies it had already put in place. On May 30th, Carlos Maza, a media critic at Vox, upended these efforts. In May, meanwhile, it started preparing for Pride Month, turning its red logo rainbow-colored and promoting popular L.G.B.T.Q. YouTube planned to roll out its new policy as early as June. In the course of the spring, YouTube drafted a new policy that would ban videos trafficking in historical “denialism” (of the Holocaust, 9/11, Sandy Hook) and “supremacist” views (lauding the “white race,” arguing that men were intellectually superior to women). Wojcicki had two competing goals: she wanted to avoid accusations of ideological bias while also affirming her company’s values. “There are no sacred cows,” Susan Wojcicki, the C.E.O.

On grounds of freedom of expression and ideological neutrality, the platform has long allowed users to upload videos endorsing noxious ideas, from conspiracy theories to neo-Nazism. Photograph by Peter Prato / NYT / ReduxĮarlier this year, executives at YouTube began mulling, once again, the problem of online speech. The company is facing profound technical, social, and political challenges in moderating its own system.

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