[akuchling]

Probably for far-right reasons; January 6th was called a "1776 Moment" by Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene and Lauren Boebert, and the Proud Boys once sold merchandise with 1776 on it. So auto-complete on its own probably suggests a bunch of alt-right terms.

[logicalmonster]

Putting aside the ethics of censorship for a moment, there's a few oddities to me here.

* It seems to be sending mixed messages that content is so "problematic" that it cannot be recommended by YouTube, yet not "problematic" enough to be banned by YouTube.

* It seems odd that Google, with all of their algorithm geniuses, can't work out a system to not recommend "problematic" content for generic 1776 keywords. Aren't there hundreds of reputable channels that deal with pure history stuff? Aren't there maybe thousands of history videos on the Revolutionary War that have no connection to present day politics that can be linked to?

* Google's algorithm seems incredibly stupid if they're recommending more than an infinitesimal percentage of 1776 keywords to "alt-right" content. Recognizing 1776 as a very important historical year has been done in American schools forever. It's up there with 1492 with random years that kids are taught about remembering. The overwhelming majority of anything ever created with 1776 as a keyword is not about January 6.

[edmundsauto]

Just some quick counterpoints:

> It seems to be sending mixed messages that content is so "problematic" that it cannot be recommended by YouTube, yet not "problematic" enough to be banned by YouTube.

Not really - it shows nuanced understanding that some content by itself / with a small audience doesn't cause harm, but the company doesn't not want to amplify it. Protects peoples speech but also declines to promote them to a bigger audience.

> It seems odd that Google, with all of their algorithm geniuses, can't work out a system to not recommend "problematic" content for generic 1776 keywords. Aren't there hundreds of reputable channels that deal with pure history stuff? Aren't there maybe thousands of history videos on the Revolutionary War that have no connection to present day politics that can be linked to?

Not a justification, but a reason: big tech focuses on scale. Employees are generally discouraged from doing something for 1 specific area. Also, it appears the problematic content moves KPIs, so the general system is designed to promote that stuff. Once you start carving out exceptions, it compromises the whole system and velocity of the team. (Again, not a justification for this specific instance, which I agree should be a carve out - but it does require a deviance from normal business, which means it's less likely to happen)

[logicalmonster]

> Not really - it shows nuanced understanding that some content by itself / with a small audience doesn't cause harm, but the company doesn't not want to amplify it. Protects peoples speech but also declines to promote them to a bigger audience.

Putting aside the issue of what specific content causes harm or not (which is a very contentious issue), my issue with this kind of justification is that it puts mega-corporations in a position to have their cake and eat it too.

With a straight face, depending on their audience, Google can claim to both not be censoring content at the same time as they're claiming to be censoring content. This feels like they're putting themselves in a position to walk a legal tightrope on what they're actually doing and flout any laws they want.

[wyager]

This reminds me of when Google Shopping (remember that?) started returning zero results for any search containing the substring "gun", so "hot glue gun" or "gundam figurine" would return nothing.

[logicalmonster]

How did Google come up with that kind of solution with their teams of developers that pass those crazy leetcode interviews?

Matching strings like this seems like a solution that an average high-school programmer would find some question marks with.

[benj111]

>gundam

So even Google fails to avoid the Scunthorpe problem.

[bediger4000]

Agreed. This is really unpatriotic of YouTube.

[rchaud]

That makes sense to me. There is an '80s punk band called Big Black (guitarist produced records by Nirvana and Pixies), and as you can imagine, typing the band's name into google or youtube will immediately turn autocomplete off.

[okdood64]

It autocompletes for me on Google.

[pipo234]

I've probably been living under a rock here in EU. January 6th, riots, proud boys rings a bell, but what is 1776? Is that the capitol address? A year reference? Some alt-right numerology?

Can anyone explain, please?

[seadan83]

The renewed interest and new mantra of 1776 is a backlash to the 1619 project.

This right leaning resource summarizes that point of view:

" the New York Times Magazine’s 1619 Project ... attempts to reframe our understanding of American history by alleging the central event in the founding of the United States was the first importation of enslaved Africans to Virginia in 1619 and not the Declaration of Independence in 1776." [1]

[1] https://capitalresearch.org/article/architects-of-woke-the-1...

[ceejayoz]

And specifically: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1776_Commission

[knewter]

Counterpoint: I love america and loved 1776 references long before the 1619 project was a thing. There was no renewed interest on the part of me or my compatriots.

[seadan83]

I believe your statements to be virtuous - but also fascinating that you felt the need to make the counterpoint.

The counterpoint stated allows the situation to be a dog whistle. It's a regrettable situation. (caveat, our personal beliefs don't matter here, they are not the reason why this issue is back into the popular culture. I'm trying to keep my commentary objective regarding the popular culture, these statements do not reflect my views nor a judgement of yours).

So... it's a pretty stark contrast to respond to one commission viewing American history through the lens of when slavery started with another commission that emphasizes freedom and independence (and significantly full freedom and independence only for white land-owning males).

Now, my brother, I assume nothing about you - please don't take the above to be any type of commentary about you, your opinions or your compatriots. I believe what you say at face value. Though, your counterpoint very concisely underscored why this is in the popular culture.

There is a gate-keeping mechanism at play here. If a person can't reasonably think such a (racist) contrast exists, and anyone who does think that contrast is racist is not a patriot and does not also love America - that seems to be gate keeping of who can be a patriot. It's concerning.

No doubt there are many long time lovers of history, of America, of 1776, but to those voices now are those who speak the very same words but as a dog whistle. Hence, it's more of a thing than it was, and why it's now more salient in the popular culture than before.

I think this back-and-forth highlights the very subtle details behind this issue, and in sum is a very complete answer to the question of why Americans are now generally (as far as the pop culture goes) so concerned about 1776. It's to an extent become a new litmus test for tribal identity, whether you are a patriot or not, part of the in-group or out-group. To those that are neutral on that litmus test, that feel they have other points of view, it is a disservice. So, just all in all a really good example of how Americans are becoming really divided for no good reason...

[knewter]

Look at the length of your reply versus mine and the depth of assumptions you have made from my small post and recognize you're a loony.

[mindslight]

For every political hack, there is an equal and opposite political hack.

[flyingfences]

United States Independence Day

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b1/Goddard_...

[HeyLaughingBoy]

"Gentlemen, we must hang together or we shall all hang separately."

[richardjam73]

Passing of the US declaration of independence from England occurred in 1776.

[yawpitch]

Year that America happened… kind of a big deal to Americans.

[d-z-m]

> So auto-complete on its own probably suggests a bunch of alt-right terms.

If this were true, YouTube could simply black-hole the more specific keyword, i.e. "1776 Moment" instead of "1776".

For example, the search string "where to buy" has many completions, but "where to buy guns" has none.