YouTube CEO Says Platform Preparing for Abortion Misinformation
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YouTube will continue to fight misinformation for the foreseeable future, the video platform’s CEO Susan Wojcicki said during an interview at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland Tuesday.
“I think there will always be work that we have to do, because there will always be incentives for people to keep creating misinformation,” Wojcicki said. “There will be different ways for people to try and trick our systems.”
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“Misinformation is not new to the internet, it has been around for all time, but we see that there is real risk, and we have put in a lot of effort,” she added, noting that “after all the work that we have put in, I think we have come a long way.”
A big part of the company’s job is staying ahead of those looking to misinform and trick users and advertisers. To that end, Wojcicki said that the company sprang into action after a Supreme Court draft decision that would overturn Roe v. Wade leaked to Politico earlier this month.
“Once we saw it, we began to anticipate what it would mean to our business,” Wojcicki said, noting that because it was a draft “there is not definitive language.”
The executive said that the company began thinking about how it would address content moderation, advertising concerns and misinformation related to abortion, giving the example of a user posting a video saying that abortion was illegal in a state where it is actually allowed.
It is a complicated, politically fraught situation to be in.
“My stance is that women should have a choice when they become a mother. I believe that reproductive rights are human rights. That is my personal view,” Wojcicki said, adding that “running a company that focuses on free speech … we want to be sure that everyone has the right to express their point of view.”
“Our goal generally is to speak up on the issues that really matter to our employees, and that really matter to our user base,” she added. “We have spoken internally at a high level, but we are still waiting for what the final wording is, and what the final implications are, and when it is real we will take the necessary steps to comply with it, while also trying to support our employees.”
Wojcicki also addressed misinformation as it relates to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
“What we are really seeing in this conflict is that information is playing a key role, and information can be weaponized, which is why we were so focused on making the right policies,” she said.
YouTube is one of only a few western video platforms still operating in Russia after most companies have pulled out, and Wojcicki argued that it is important that it stay there, as it is delivering “independent news” to users in the country.
“The average citizen in Russia can access for free the same information you can access here in Davos,” she said. “As soon as the war broke out we realized this was an incredibly important time to get it right with regard to our responsibility.”
Wojcicki also discussed the current macroeconomic environment, which is applying pressure to competitors like Netflix and Snap.
“If we look at the economy, there are definitely a lot of concerning macro trends, the war, inflation in the U.S.,” she said, adding that there remains an organic shift to digital video. “When you go through a downturn, I think it is important to keep that long-term view. There may be areas where we decide to delay starting a certain project, but this is a growing business. We will continue to invest.”
