YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki to Step Down After 9 Years
By Movieguide® Contributor
YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki announced in a memo to YouTube staff on Thursday that she would be stepping down from her position after leading the company for nine years.
“I’ve decided to step back from my role as the head of YouTube and start a new chapter focused on my family, health, and person projects I’m passionate about,” Wojcicki wrote. “The time is right for me, and I feel able to do this because we have an incredible leadership team in place at YouTube.”
Current YouTube chief product officer, Neal Mohan, will step in to replace Wojcicki as the head of YouTube. Mohan has been pivotal in the launch of some of YouTube’s biggest products such as YouTube TV, YouTube Music, Premium and Shorts.
Mohan responded to Wojcicki’s announcement, saying, “It’s been amazing to work with you over the years. You’ve built YouTube into an extraordinary home for creators and viewers. I’m excited to continue this awesome and important mission. Looking forward to what lies ahead…”
Wojcicki plans to stay with YouTube in the short term to provide a smooth transition and will remain with YouTube’s parent company, Alphabet, in the long term, performing an advisory role.
Wojcicki has worked with Google for 24 years and joined the company in 1999 as their sixteenth employee. For a time, the company operated from her garage.
In her 24 years, Wojcicki managed marketing, co-created Google Image Search, led Google’s first Video and Book search and led many of Google’s ad initiatives before becoming YouTube’s CEO in 2014.
Her memo concluded, saying, “I always dreamed of working for a company with a mission that could change the world for the better. Thanks to you and your vision, I got the chance to live that dream. It has been an absolute privilege to be a part of it, and I’m excited for what’s next.”
However, Movieguide® has previously reported on some YouTube’s censorship policies:
On Thursday, YouTube’s PR Twitter account announced that the company will censor videos containing abortion-related “misinformation,” from content providing unsafe abortion instructions to videos on abortion-related topics broadly.
YouTubeInsider posted, “Starting today and ramping up over the next few weeks, we will remove content that provides instructions for unsafe abortion methods or promotes false claims about abortion safety under our medical misinformation policies.”
The account explained that “Content that promotes harmful substances, treatments, or substances that present an inherent risk of severe bodily harm or death” will be censored.
YouTube has also removed Christian content from the platform:
According to CEO and President of theDove Perry Atkinson, YouTube removed thousands of videos posted to the Christian media network’s channel.
Atkinson noted that the video-sharing platform took down an estimated 15,600 videos. YouTube had notified theDove that their content violated its Community Guidelines and their channel exceeded the “three strike” limit.
Moreover, Atkinson said that the frequency of flagged videos increased after the election in November, and in January after the Capitol Hill riot.
Hopefully, the new leadership will change course on these policies that frequently targets Christians and faith-centered content.
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