YouTube alters search algorithm over fake Las Vegas conspiracy videos

[Eugene]

Source: The Guardian

YouTube alters search algorithm over fake Las Vegas conspiracy videos

Site initially said clips claiming mass shooting was staged did not violate standards – but later corrected its stance

Sam Levin in San Francisco
Friday 6 October 2017 05.56 BST

YouTube has made changes to its algorithms after it was strongly condemned for promoting offensive and false conspiracy theory videos about the Las Vegas shooting.

The move to shift the way it delivers search results contradicts YouTube’s earlier statements defending its performance during breaking news.

After a gunman inside the Mandalay Bay hotel fired on a music festival, killing 58 people and injuring hundreds more, videos claiming that the shooting was a hoax and a “false flag” spread like wildfire on YouTube, earning millions of views.

A “Las Vegas shooting” search on the Google-owned platform led users to numerous videos questioning whether the government was lying about the basic facts of the tragedy and suggesting victims could be “actors”.

On Wednesday a YouTube spokesperson insisted the site was highlighting reputable videos and told the Guardian that conspiracy videos on its search page did not violate its standards. But less than 24 hours later the company altered its position, implementing changes to its platform in a direct effort to better promote reputable sources.

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Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/oct/06/youtube-alters-search-algorithm-over-fake-las-vegas-conspiracy-videos

[TheBlackAdder]

1. Victims could be "actors." Man, there are a lot of sick fucks out there.

[Fred Sanders]

2. And the sickness is preyed upon by right wing media. Should be locked up for this fake news.

[Nevernose]

3. THERE ARE 58 FUNERALS THIS WEEK

They will be attended by thousands, all over the continent.

There are over 200 people with bullet wounds.

I can see someone with a very severe mental illness buying into some False Flag narrative, but how stupid do you have to be to believe THIS was faked? There were TWENTY THOUSAND WITNESSES, hundreds with permanent souvenirs.

Of course, these are the same geniuses that think all those kids in Newtown never existed and the hundreds of people involved were paid actors... Because THEY WANT TO TAKE OUR PRECIOUS GUNS AWAY! And also they’re controlling the weather from a scientific research station in Alaska so that storms are bad, we think it’s global warming, we go solar, and then when the solar power fails and the Soviets finally invade (sly dogs waiting all this time!), the intense solar radiation will give the hurricane-looters amazing gun-grabbing superpowers, and THEN where will we be when we need to overthrow our own government to protect the anthem and Confederate monuments of history? Completely defenseless, that’s where. Because the Constitution.

JFC this country is stupid so much of the time.

[Initech]

5. I'm so fucking pissed I can't see straight.

They really crossed a line trying to justify this horrifying tragedy. Just when I think this can't get any worse, and I can't think that the GOP can sink any lower, they do. I mean they successfully justified murdering children. And now those assholes are going to go after the Vegas victims.

[Initech]

4. Then how is Alex Jones able to get away with peddling hate speech every week?

Did they meet your standards, YouTube??