Is Big Media Censoring Judeo-Christian Ideas?

Let’s Look at Prager U and the Ten Commandments

There is a claim going about that YouTube and its parent Google are unfairly restricting videos produced by Prager University. Dennis Prager highlights in particular the restriction of several short videos in his series on the Ten Commandments. Since I am not accustomed to using the YouTube content filter, I had not noticed the flagging of his videos. Upon listening to a few in that series I also found nothing unreasonable or disturbing about those videos.

Let’s look at the facts, as I have discovered them.

Dennis Prager has produced a series of short videos on the Ten Commandments, an introductory video and ten videos corresponding to each of the Commandments (numbered according to the Jewish tradition).

• The Ten Commandments: What You Should Know
• 1. I Am the Lord Your God
• 2. No Other Gods
• 3. Do Not Misuse God’s Name
• 4. Remember the Sabbath
• 5. Honor Your Father and Mother
• 6. Do Not Murder
• 7. Do Not Commit Adultery
• 8. Do Not Steal
• 9. Do Not Bear False Witness
• 10. Do Not Covet

Google has a global setting for every account that affects search results in all of its properties, including YouTube. It is named “safe search” and is found by:

1. Click the profile icon in the upper right corner of Google’s search page (must be signed in to a Google account)
2. Click the “Google Account” button
3. Click “Data and personalization” in the left sidebar
4. Scroll down to “General preferences for the web” section
5. Click “Search settings”
6. Select the checkbox “turn on SafeSearch”

There is an option to lock the SafeSearch feature, but it is not necessary to do so to explore what the feature does.

In addition, YouTube has a setting called “Restricted Mode”:

1. Click the profile icon on the YouTube page
2. Click the “Restricted Mode” option at the bottom of the dropdown menu (also view current setting)
3. Enable “Activate Restricted Mode”

As with SafeSearch, the Restricted Mode setting may be locked, but this is not necessary.

Here’s what a restricted mode search on YouTube for “prager university 10 commandments playlist” looks like:

Here is the actual playlist sidebar:

And a search for just “prager university 10 commandments” includes in the first ten results the following video – not blocked.

This video contains nearly all of the content from the introductory PragerU video with commentary that includes the following statement:

Dennis Prager: Okay, so why is God indispensible to the Ten Commandments? Because to put it as directly as possible, if it isn’t God who declares murder wrong, murder isn’t wrong.

Cosmic Skeptic: Well, you’re half-right, Mr. Prager, namely that murder isn’t wrong, not objectively anyway. Oh, I know, shocker. I’ve actually just had a conversation with Frank Turek about this, so if you’re interested in hearing why I think this, check out my last video, if you missed it.

Content “Standards”

It is incontrovertible that the only possible standard by which one of these videos would be blocked and not the other is that some ideas in one video are better than those in the other. So Google’s defense in the Senate Hearing that some of the PragerU videos discuss sensitive topics like murder is disingenuous at best.

Let’s look at Google’s standard for filtering content in SafeSearch:

SafeSearch can help you block inappropriate or explicit images from your Google Search results. The SafeSearch filter isn’t 100% accurate, but it helps you avoid most violent and adult content.

https://www.google.com/preferences

And YouTube’s Restricted Mode:

Restricted Mode hides videos that may contain inappropriate content flagged by users and other signals.

https://www.youtube.com/account – select “Restricted Mode” at the bottom of page

and:

This helps hide potentially mature videos. No filter is 100% accurate.

https://www.youtube.com/ – select “Restricted Mode” from the bottom of the Account Profile dropdown

One more thing – while in YouTube Restricted Mode I did a search for a well-known entertainer that I suspected might have “mature” content in their music video (the at least 95% of people more in tune with popular culture than I will probably be able to identify it, but no, I won’t help you) and here is a frame from a video that turned up high in the rankings:

Take Aways

Clearly Dennis Prager is justified in complaining that Google / YouTube refuse to remove the “restricted” status from over 10% of his videos^[1], and that they are not applying any (disclosed) objective standard in making those restrictions.

It doesn’t matter that only 1.5% of users even use the content filter. Especially since a presumably large part of that “minority” are educational institutions and libraries.

I don’t advocate any of the proposed “solutions” I have heard. It is completely impractical to talk of “breaking up” Google, but it must be reasonable to hold them accountable (how would you?) for misapplying their stated standards or having no objective standards at all.

And I would not advocate that Google censor CosmicSkeptic’s ideas either. Believe me when I say that I don’t feel threatened by them in the least, and even if I did it would be inappropriate of Google to exercise that judgement.

It’s a difficult line to walk (and an ambitious goal) to both enable and protect free speech, and to preserve platforms for civil discourse. I admire Google for the extent to which they have done this, and created unimaginable value for the whole world in the process. But if Google cannot admit a blatant failure in this case (and if a great many people don’t see it and demand correction), then God help us.

I’m not worried, He is …

Action Item

If you have the inclination to help, please try some experiments such as I did to convince yourself of the current state of Google / YouTube’s restriction policies, or lack thereof. Let me know what you find out, or find a way to act on this and also let me know.

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Footnotes

1. https://www.prageru.com/petition/youtube/ I am not endorsing this petition. That is up to you.