YouTube is not. It's a website that everyone uses, and where the most impressionable or least politically aware members of the population are the most numerous, easiest targets.
> The volume of comments that are processed
> vastly exceeds what human moderation could possibly do
I've gone into this before and there really seems to be total buy-in here to the idea that these companies couldn't possibly manage to weed the toxicity off their platforms. I don't believe it for an instant. It's true only if you refuse to entertain any decrease of "user engagement". If you are willing to lose some eyeballs, the problem is manageable.
And that sacrifice, in the case of YouTube, isn't even a sacrifice! YouTube would wind up with more users if the comments weren't so toxic. Susan et al just don't have the courage to change anything.
In practice, this will result in YouTubers disabling comments on their videos because most creators don't want to play moderator for toxic assholes.
... I'm okay with this. ;)
However I will say that Engineers, good ones, are accustomed to being wrong and taking the initiative to change their thinking.