An investigation by The Markup found that YouTube parent company Google blocks advertisers from using dozens of social and racial justice terms, including Black Lives Matter, to find YouTube videos and channels upon which to advertise. At the same time, Google offered advertisers hundreds of millions of choices for YouTube videos and channels related to White supremacist and other hate terms when we began our investigation, including “all lives matter”—a phrase frequently used as a dismissive rejoinder to Black Lives Matter—and “White lives matter”—which the Southern Poverty Law Center describes as both a neo-Nazi group and “a racist response to the civil rights movement Black Lives Matter.”
After reviewing them, the company did not lift its ban on the social and racial justice terms we shared, but it did block the hate terms that we had pointed out were in contradiction with them, including “White lives matter” and “White power.” The company also responded by blocking even more of the 62 social and racial justice terms on our list. Read the full story in The Markup.
We created our list of social and racial justice terms by asking for recommendations from four advocacy groups— Color of Change, MediaJustice, Mijente, and Muslim Advocates —and winnowing down their suggestions to the most unambiguous terms with the help of researchers at the Shorenstein Center’s Technology and Social Change Project.
The Markup
