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  1. @dreww
    • drewwcommented6 years ago

      It is interesting to think about what sort of role YouTube should play when it comes to moderating their content. On the one hand, it's important that the platform does not facilitate the propagation of hateful or harmful content. On the other hand, however, it is just as important that platforms such as YouTube remain spaces where free speech can flourish. It's hard to walk the line between moderating too much and moderating too little, and I think I agree with the author that YouTube isn't always doing enough to ensure that harmful content doesn't reside on its platform. However, I also believe that users who enjoy and demand content like Paul's are partially to blame for videos like this one ending up on YouTube. Without such demand for his crazy stunts and antics, perhaps Paul would not have been as tempted to sensationalize his experience in the Suicide Forest in the first place.

      While I'd love to see the Paul brothers off of YouTube (or off of the entire internet altogether), I'd rather they be forced off of the platform due to a fall in views from millions of fans boycotting their videos, rather than because a few people at YouTube decided to take down some of their deplorable content.