Look, there is always going to be stuff that is banned from Youtube. They're not going to allow porn on there.Again, that would be fine. If there was a consistent standard, content creators could just abide by those rules. That's not the experience of content creators. Instead, it's arbitrary, and often driven by the ideological whims of lower level employees with an axe to grind.
Also, recommendations aren't part of a platform, they are Youtube's free speech
That's awfully convenient. Virality and discovery are huge amplifying forces. In 2019, it makes no sense at all to be part of a "platform" then wield the editorial control of manipulating recommendations. The only reason that flies, is that the law and the general culture haven't caught up to the implications of manipulated virality and discovery. Would you like it if somehow Fox News were given editorial control of manipulating virality and discovery? If your answer is no, then you already understand that it's too much power to let a single corporation wield.
as that's how Youtube has radicalized people.
That NYT piece is a shallow hit piece. There's far less radicalization going on than the emperor losing his clothes. What's going on is that young people are figuring out the BS of the older generation, and the establishment NYT is trying to spin it in a way to scare people away from the process. Far more young people are just rejecting the establishment narrative and crafting their own. As usual, the establishment are crying the sky is falling, and the young people will be fine. (And a small fringe will be nut-jobs, and a smaller fringe will be vile, but that's always been the case as well.)
https://slate.com/technology/2019/06/measles-outbreak-anti-v...