CNet had an enlightening interview with YouTube’s chief product officer Neal Mohan. Mr. Mohan, the de facto deputy to CEO Susan Wojcicki, discussed moving the platform beyond its recent scandals. He also disputed that it is a media company.
Mohan still thinks his job, “first and foremost,” is building out YouTube’s services. That includes developing new features for products like YouTube Music, a Spotify competitor, and YouTube TV, a cable cord-cutter service. But he acknowledges his role must go beyond that. Mohan says part of managing YouTube is “finding a balance” between the site’s open platform — anyone can post a video on the site — and its community guidelines that ban hate speech and abuse, a mission set forth by Wojcicki. “I view [dealing with the scandals] as part of focusing on the products,” he says. “Susan’s laid out this vision for YouTube. And my job — taking that direction and executing on that — consists not just of all this product innovation, but addressing what I feel like we should be on the hook for as part of our responsibility as this global platform. And I think they go hand in hand.”
Check It Out: The YouTube Exec Working to Rid the Platform of Hatred and Scandal