[zinekeller]

> What's interesting is how YT has gradually shifted from being that neutral hosting service and into the media distributor role.

The correct answer here, rather disappointingly, is that they were never neutral. Google Videos (the one that Google actually launched) arguably is a neutral service, but YouTube was always designed to be a social media (even if that term is not as well-known at the time as it is now). It even had five star ratings, which as the style for its time. It is always closer to Instagram rather than Dropbox (although that's an anachronistic comparison since that YouTube was the first of the three).

[scyzoryk_xyz]

Correct yes sure - point is that it cultivated a neutral hosting service brand image and that's interesting