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by ThrowawayR2 1725 days ago
I'm sorry but I'm not sure I follow the reasoning here. If we say that I posted the video (which falls under "imparting") and you intentionally searched for that video and viewed it (which falls under "seeking and receiving"), that seems like voluntary communication between us I would think. Fred may not want to see that video but that's a separate interaction between myself and him; I would wholeheartedly support Fred being offered tools to prevent my hypothetical video from being shown or offered to him. But blocking/removing the video so nobody can see it based on Fred's preference (or even the preferences of many like Fred or YouTube's preferences), how is that fair to you, who wanted to see it, and how is that fair to I who wanted my audience to find it if they looked for it? Fred might judge the video harmful but that gives Fred no standing to interfere any more than a stranger has a right to interfere with you purchasing a book from a bookstore because it's harmful.
1 comments

Well but did I intentionally search for that video, or did I search for, say, content about vaccines?

If you're saying the video is unlisted/private and sent to people on a mailing list over email, that's one thing, but I think you're arguing that YT should act as a distributor as well, and there's no way to "impartially" order search results.

Nobody is forcing the searcher to view any of the content presented as search results and I think it's hard to make the case that mere exposure to unwanted search results is anything other than a minor irritation.

I think we would be in agreement that improvements in search and algorithmic identification of content would be a great thing so that people who don't want to see fringe content can be helped to avoid receiving it in their search results?

Let me rephrase: what, in your opinion, is wrong with Youtube's search algorithm making antivaxx content appear "last"?

This is "just" a choice about how they order search results, but is functionally equivalent to delisting the content. Is that okay? If not, what makes today's ordering "more okay", and broadly, how do we delineate between acceptable search algorithms, and unacceptable ones?