YouTube has tapped the Southern Poverty Law Center to help it police objectionable content, according to the Daily Caller.

Hopefully, this isn't true. But if it is, it's a disaster. YouTube couldn't have chosen a worse or less trustworthy partner.

The SPLC is a dishonest, irresponsible and obnoxiously partisan organization. Trusting them to decide what constitutes objectionable and “extremist” content, as YouTube’s more than 100 “Trusted Flaggers” have been asked to do, is like asking the inmates to run the asylum.

YouTube’s monitoring program dates to 2012. However, according to the Caller, it has “exploded in size in recent years amid a Google push to increase regulation of the content on its platforms, which followed pressure from advertisers.”

“Fifty of the 113 program members joined in 2017 as YouTube stepped up its content policing,” the report added. “[T]he third-party groups work closely with YouTube’s employees to crack down on extremist content in two ways … First, the flaggers are equipped with digital tools allowing them to mass flag content for review by YouTube personnel. Second, the partner groups act as guides to YouTube’s content monitors and engineers designing the algorithms policing the video platform but may lack the expertise needed to tackle a given subject.”

Spokespersons for the SPLC have not yet responded to the Washington Examiner’s request for comment. In the meantime, though, it’s worth repeating: This group is not to be taken seriously, especially when it comes to identifying objectionable content and so-called hate speech.

In 2015, for example.

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/stop-treating-the-southern-poverty-law-center-like-its-a-respectable-and-responsible-organization/article/2650327