YouTube Product Chief Says It’s Not in the Company’s ‘Business Interest’ to Promote ‘Extreme’ Videos

Neal Mohan tells The New York Times it’s “purely a myth” that the video giant intentionally recommends polarizing content

YouTube product chief Neal Mohan pushed back against criticism that the video giant promotes “extreme” content to drive more views — and generate more ad revenue — in an interview with The New York Times on Friday.

“It’s not in our business interest to promote any of this sort of content,” Mohan said. “It’s not something that has a disproportionate effect in terms of watch time. Just as importantly, the watch time that it does generate doesn’t monetize, because advertisers many times don’t want to be associated with this sort of content.”

He added it was “purely a myth” to think YouTube deliberately promotes radical videos.

Want to keep reading?

Create a free account, or log in with your email below.

 

Gain access to unlimited free articles, news alerts, select newsletters, podcasts and more.

 

Comments