YouTube's Comments Section Is a Cesspool, but Advertisers Aren't Going Anywhere

Agencies agree the platform hasn’t gotten bad enough to leave

A YouTube livestream of a congressional hearing about white nationalism and online hate speech Tuesday was overrun with racist and anti-Semitic comments, illustrating the enormity of the giant video-hosting site’s inability to address organized hate on the platform.

The incident was another example of how much more YouTube has to do. Among the advertisers that line YouTube’s pockets, though, the incident prompted little more than a collective shrug.

Andy Rhode, director of media at Fallon, said none of the agency’s clients expressed concerns about comments overrunning the YouTube livestream Tuesday.

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