User:TheAnh.NG/sandbox

Economic censorship is censorship by brands and also corporations. These brands and corporations may pull out from sponsoring an individual or a platform because it causes them to have a negative image from the outside world. As a result, this can then in turn result in hurting them economically. It is well documented that the media avoids certain topics, or even present biased news coverage, in acquiescences to advertiser demands.

Magazines, newspaper, content creators, and also influential people, earn their money from advertisement. Therefore, they must keep their advertisers happy. This can cause advertisers to dictate what the public shall or shall not hear.

Felix Arvid Ulf Kjellberg
Kjellberg (or known as Pewdiepie) is a well-known social media influencer. He has the highest number of subscribers on Youtube (a video sharing website). In 2017, he had a big controversy with Journal Wall Street, a U.S newspaper. Wall Street Journal investigation into Kjellberg’s YouTube channel found a total of nine videos posted since August 2016 that featured Nazi imagery or anti-Semitic humor. Despite Kjellberg insists his humor is satirical and absurdist in nature; the resulting ambiguity is presumably why the content of his videos went unchallenged for so long, Kjellberg still lost two major partnerships which are the Marvel Studio (owned by Disney) and Youtube.

About the controversy, Maker Studios said in a statement: “Although Felix has created a following by being provocative and irreverent, he clearly went too far in this case and the resulting videos are inappropriate." Also from the incident, YouTube canceled the second season of his reality show "Scare PewDiePie".

A YouTube spokesperson said, “We’ve decided to cancel the release of ‘Scare PewDiePie’ season 2 and we’re removing the PewDiePie channel from Google Preferred.” Google Preferred is the internet giant’s advertising program for selling popular “brand-safe content” on YouTube.

Youtube
In 2017, over 250 brands have pulled their advertising from YouTube over extremist videos. Here is the list of some of the biggest advertisers who have stopped their spend with Google and YouTube in the UK:

Argos, Audi, Aviva, Havas Group UK (froze all of its spend. The agency manages major brands including Dominos Pizza, O2, Royal Mail, BBC, and Hyundai Kia.), Heinz, Honda, HSBC, ITV, L'Oreal, Lloyd's Bank, Marks & Spencer, McDonald's, RBS, Sainsbury's, Tesco, The Guardian, Toyota, Transport for London, UK Government, Volkswagen.

From the US:

AT&T, Beam Suntory Inc., Dish Network, FX Networks, General Motors, GSK, Johnson & Johnson, Nestle, PepsiCo, Starbucks, Verizon, Walmart.

Ron Paul
Dr. Paul is a 12-term ex-congressman, and three-time presidential candidate is known for views that often contradict those of Washington’s political establishment, especially on issues of war and peace. Due to his political view, Dr. Paul is one of many people who is targeted by Youtube's demonetization policy. Daniel McAdams, co-producer of the Ron Paul Liberty Report said: “We have no violence, no foul language, no political extremism, no hate or intolerance. Our program is simply a news analysis discussion from a libertarian and antiwar perspective.”

One of Youtube's Advertiser-friendly content guidelines criteria contains controversial issues and sensitive events. It is said "Video content that features or focuses on sensitive topics or events including, but not limited to, war, political conflicts, terrorism or extremism, death and tragedies, sexual abuse, even if graphic imagery is not shown, is generally not suitable for ads. For example, videos about recent tragedies, even if presented for news or documentary purposes, may not be suitable for advertising given the subject matter." Even if the video is presented for solely delivering news, it still can get demonetized because advertisers want to detach from the topic presented completely.

NYPD Blue
NYPD Blue is an American drama television series, it was broadcast on the ABC network back in 1993. Despite being a popular show and won the most awards at the 46th annual Primetime Emmy Awards in 1994, however, the show did not make any money. This was due to its controversy surrounding of the show's nude rear-end scenes and the use of salty language. According to Robert Iger, the president of ABC "NYPD Blue is one of the few new shows to score a hit in the ratings, is losing money for ABC because major advertisers don't want to be associated with its controversial subject matter."