CEO Susan Wojcicki announced YouTube is creating a multiyear $100 million fund to amplify and develop the voices of Black creators on the platform.
Wojcicki made the announcement during her latest update on the company’s priorities for creators and users.
The new fund will aim to elevate and amplify the voices that help support the Black community. For example, Wojcicki talked about a live-streamed fundraising event YouTube hosted on Saturday (June 13), “Bear Witness, Take Action,” produced by YouTube Originals and featuring creators, artists, public figures and activists in roundtable discussions and musical performances.
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On top of the fun, YouTube’s Spotlight channel will regularly feature content on racial justice issues, giving a voice to the Black community on matters of historical content, educational videos, and coverage of the ongoing protests.
Wojcicki also took time to explain how YouTube is examining how its policies work for everyone, specifically the Black community, with the objective of ensuring Black creators on the platform can share their stories without being exposed to hateful, white supremacists and bullying content. On the subject, she announced that YouTube removed more than 100,000 videos and 100 million comments for those reasons during the first quarter of 2020 alone. That’s even before the protests started…
She wrote, “I’m committed to listening to Black employees at YouTube, to Black creators, to Black artists, to leaders in the Black community and to Black users who tune in to YouTube every day. There is much work to do to advance racial equity in the long-term, and these efforts will continue in the months and years ahead.”
Wojcicki concluded, “Over the past few weeks, we’ve grieved together as the Black community has endured more senseless acts of racial terror and violence. We know that for many, tragedies like these are a persistent reminder of the harm caused by systemic racism. They also compound the toll of the pandemic, which disproportionately impacted Black and Brown communities in the U.S. and abroad. At YouTube, we believe Black lives matter, and we all need to do more to dismantle systemic racism. We join in protest against the murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery and so many others before them.”