YouTube’s Deal with the Devil

Oliver Darcy: “In late 2020, YouTube took a decisive step: The company suspended the right-wing conspiracy factory One America News, demonetized its channel, and declared that it was not an ‘authoritative’ source. It was the correct call: OAN has a lengthy record of spewing dangerous lies about everything from Covid to the 2020 election…”

“Now, less than five years later, Google boss Sundar Pichai and YouTube chief Neal Mohan have executed a shameless, whiplash-inducing reversal. On Wednesday, YouTube TV and OAN proudly announced that they had inked a carriage deal, catapulting the channel onto one of the country’s largest digital pay-TV platform. In effect, Google tossed a lifeline to the outlet, since most every other major carrier in the country had booted it from its lineup. The move will make YouTube TV among the biggest distributors of the MAGA propaganda outlet in America.”