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  • Geebo 11:17 am on March 21, 2017 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , LGBT,   

    YouTube finds itself fighting controversy on two fronts 

    YouTube finds itself fighting controversy on two fronts

    When you have a virtual monopoly on user-generated video content like YouTube does, it’s difficult to please everyone all the time.Recently, YouTube found itself at odds with two groups that are very important to them, content creators and advertisers.

    The first controversy stems from the fact that some major advertisers didn’t like have their ads played before, or displayed next to videos that promote hate speech. While YouTube’s parent company, Google, has promised advertisers greater tools to limit where their ads are displayed, a few major advertisers have already pulled their ad dollars from the video platform.

    In the second controversy, many of YouTube’s LGBTQ content creators found their videos being restricted and filtered out as not being family friendly even though no explicit subjects were being discussed. In a statement YouTube said that it was due to a glitch in a parental control mode that it added to the service in 2010 and promised to do better. However, it seems like the damage had already been done when it appeared that YouTube was targeting such a specific part of its user community.

    While no company is perfect, both of these controversies show that Google still hasn’t ironed out all the bugs in YouTube even after having purchased it over a decade ago. With the cracks in YouTube’s armor that its shown over the years it’s surprising that a large competitor, for example Facebook, hasn’t tried launching its own video service to try to pull away creators from YouTube. Maybe that time is now, or at least soon.

     
  • Greg Collier 10:02 am on March 3, 2014 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , Equal Rights, , Gay, Gov. Jan Brewer, Ideology, Lesbian, LGBT, Republicans, SB 1062, Tea Party, Veto   

    Lessons from Arizona: Business Owners Push Back Against Lawmakers Who Do More Harm Than Good 

    pavingWhen you open a business in the United States, you have no choice but to deal with the long arm of government, whether it’s income taxes or business fees that you’re required to pay or a long list of rules and regulations that you’re required to follow.

    Regardless of political point of view, most business owners would likely agree with politicians when they say that businesses need the freedom to grow and flourish on their own, without the government creating more obstacles and challenges.

    That’s why you saw businesses – large big-named corporations like Apple, Intel and American Express, among others – speaking out against and encouraging the veto of an Arizona bill that, essentially, made it OK for business owners to discriminate against gay people and refuse service to them simply because of who they love.

    Sure, the bill was worded to suggest that this was not about discrimination against gay people but rather to protect the religious freedom of business owners – think bakers, caterers and florists – who might have a problem, based on religious beliefs, with providing services to certain people.

    In the end, Arizona Gov. Jan brewer vetoed the bill, correctly noting that there had been no actual instances where a business owner’s religious freedoms had been compromised and that it could, unintentionally, do more harm than good. That much was already clear. There had already been talk of moving next year’s Super bowl out of Arizona, companies were already re-thinking operations in the state and industry groups were threatening to take their conventions elsewhere.

    The thing about what happened in Arizona is that it never should have. Politicians – specifically Republican lawmakers who have been negatively influenced by the extremist views of the Tea Party – created this “solution” for a problem that didn’t exist. And when the state legislature pushed it through and sent it to the governor’s desk, it created a perception – and rightfully so – that the state as a whole is unfriendly and unwelcoming to gays.

    Put aside for a moment that gay people – and those who support the fight for their equal rights – would avoid Arizona and take their consumer dollars elsewhere. But that’s just the beginning of  the ripple effect. If gay people and their supporters – straight or otherwise – feel that Arizona is a “hate state,” they may choose to vacation elsewhere, which means that hotels and restaurants won’t benefit from their dollars. They may choose to live elsewhere, which means that businesses looking to hire will have a smaller pool of talent to choose from. They could boycott Arizona-based businesses, which could impact sales. Case in point: In 2010, when Arizona was under fire over a controversial immigration law, the beverage company that makes Arizona Iced Tea had to inform angry consumers that it was based in New York, not Arizona.

    Politicians catering to the extremist, ideological views of a far-right constituency have done more harm than good in recent years. The Republicans was once the party known for speaking out against heavy government influence on businesses. They used to argue that businesses needed the freedom to grow and prosper without the heavy hand of government weighing them down. And yet, here is another example where these same Republican lawmakers are trying to inject their ideological beliefs into business regulations, resulting in great backlash and – more importantly – bigger headaches for the very companies they claim to be protecting.

    Bottom line: The country is moving forward and the momentum for equal rights for ALL Americans is growing. It’s bad enough that the far right continues to find itself on the wrong side of history. But now they’re violating their own mantra – the idea that government should get out of the way – by moving bills that hurt businesses and economies.

    Speaking as a business owner, I say to the government, “Get out of the way and let me pave my own future.” Speaking as an American, the message is the same.

     
    • Theresa Dixon 4:13 pm on August 25, 2014 Permalink

      Well stated. You seem to be very well informed and knowledgeable on the things you write about. I have to admit, I had never even heard about Geebo until today while I was surfing the web looking for alternatives to “the other list” shall we say. Thank you for a job well done.

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