YouTube is phasing out community contributed subtitles and we can’t let that happen.
Please sign this petition to tell YouTube not to remove community contributed subtitles.
Community contributed subtitles are heavily relied on by several viewers who are D/deaf or hard of hearing, those with learning disabilities or attention deficit disorders, and those with other conditions. This is particularly the case for viewers of creators who do not caption their own videos.
Community contributed subtitles also allow creators to have subtitles on their videos in languages they aren’t fluent in, thus allowing their content to reach a broader audience.
YouTube’s excuse that only a minority of viewers use community contributed subtitles isn’t good enough. Refusing to meet the needs of disabled people and/or non-native language speakers simply because they are the minority is ableist and xenophobic. If the system is broken, they need to fix it rather than alienate some of their viewers (who are already marginalized enough as it is) from being able to enjoy the platform.
Come on, Susan Wojcicki. Do better.
