Recommendations the 20,000 people it says are currently involved in content moderation. That figure includes engineers, product specialists, policy experts, and others whose jobs relate to moderation but do not themselves review videos. YouTube declined to provide us with the number of hands-on reviewers. It’s difficult to say how much larger the reviewer workforce ought to be because we know so little about how these people interact with the platform and the automated portion of its content moderation effort. For example, YouTube will not say what percentage of its reviewers are outsourced employees of third-party vendors, as opposed to direct employees of the social media platform. As we discussed in a report published in 2020, the industry-wide practice of outsourcing a majority of moderation duties tends to have two unfortunate effects: First, it results in reviewers receiving inadequate on-site psychological counseling and other health benefits needed in light of the traumatizing videos to which many are repeatedly exposed. Second, reviewers tend not to get the kind of intensive, skilled supervision that they more likely would receive if they were full-time platform employees. Better internal oversight would lead to more effective performance and a reduction in levels of harmful content.89 4 Invest more in relationships with civil society and news organizations Responding to criticism that YouTube has not done enough to counter the spread of misinformation, the company told us that it had contributed $1 million to the International Fact-Checking Network. We commend Google for supporting this worthy cause. But corporate generosity requires context. Alphabet, the holding company for Google and YouTube, reported 2021 revenue of $258 billion, a 47% jump from 2020. With resources of that magnitude, the combined company can and should do much more. Since 2018, Google has committed more than $300 million to provide training and grants to news organizations struggling to adjust to the digital business environment. The central economic characteristic of this environment is that social media platforms like YouTube and search engines like Google have siphoned off much of the advertising revenue that once supported traditional news-gathering. In light of these circumstances, YouTube and its corporate affiliates need to step up their efforts to support competent journalists, editors, and organizations capable of reporting and analyzing local, national, and international events. Deeper, more substantive engagement between the industry and civil society groups about both the diminishment of harmful content levels and preservation of evidence of human rights abuses in conflict zones would generate greater public trust and loyalty. To the U.S. government 5 Allocate political capital to reduce the detrimental side effects of social media President Biden has periodically indicated irritation about social media platforms, but usually in cryptic, non-specific comments.90 Now is the time for him to make a substantial statement on the topic in a sit-down interview or a speech. YouTube’s dual role in Russia—providing news to ordinary Russians but also serving as a conduit to the West for Putin’s propaganda—provides Biden with a timely illustration of the good and the bad that social media can deliver. Former President Obama’s recent speech at Stanford about disinformation offered a useful model for the incumbent. In terms of a substantive agenda, Biden should provide leadership in two ways: using his influence to exhort the social media industry to self-regulate more vigorously and, at the same time, helping shape Congressional debate to improve the chances that lawmakers eventually adopt legislation providing for effective federal oversight of the industry. Both approaches are necessary. The government must act because to date the industry has not sufficiently policed itself. But because of the First Amendment, government has only limited room to maneuver. Government must refrain from interfering with either users’ right to express themselves or platforms’ right to decide what content they host. Below, we outline some of the options available to the government. HOW YOUTUBE SPREADS HARMFUL CONTENT – AND WHAT CAN BE DONE ABOUT IT 21