Google’s new union might be young but it’s already taking an active role in the pressing issues of the day, like President Donald Trump’s involvement in the Capitol riots.
“The Alphabet Workers Union (AWU) is calling on YouTube to permanently ban President Trump following a raid on the US Capitol on January 6th. The move shows the newly formed organization, comprised of employees and contractors at Google’s parent company, is dead set on influencing issues that go well beyond workers’ rights.
On Wednesday, YouTube removed a video of Trump addressing the attack, citing its policy against content that alleges widespread voter fraud. But the union called the response ‘lackluster’ and said the company hasn’t gone far enough. ‘YouTube refuses to hold Donald Trump accountable to the platform’s own rules by choosing only to remove one video instead of removing him from the platform entirely,’ they wrote in a statement. The platform ‘will continue to function as a vector for the growth of the fascist movements if it persists in prioritizing advertisers while exposing the public,’ they added.
Workers also called out YouTube’s role in allowing white nationalist movements to grow. ‘YouTube must no longer be a tool of fascist recruitment and oppression,’ they said. ‘Anything less is to countenance deadly violence: from Gamergate to Charlottesville, from Christchurch to Washington D.C., from Jair Bolsonaro to Donald Trump. Alphabet, in failing to act, has done tremendous damage: to the thousands of victims of hate and to the world.'”
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