Susan Wojcicki, the CEO of YouTube, said in an open letter to YouTube creators that the site was welcoming to “content that is outside the mainstream, controversial, or even offensive,” despite them having removed various conservative channels for posting just that type of content.

Wojcicki stated in the letter that creating an open platform is “more important than ever,” and that the benefits of freedom of expression far outweigh the costs. She argues that it “leads to opportunity… helps foster community… [and] leads to learning.”

Wojcicki said that this commitment to openness “is not easy” and means that the site must leave up “content that is outside the mainstream, controversial, or even offensive,” in order to create “a stronger and more informed society.”

This statement from Wojcicki is absolutely contrary to the actions of her site. Last year, Alex Jones and InfoWars were famously banned from the platform.

Just yesterday, the conservative commentator James Allsup had his channel shut down by YouTube, without any strikes or warnings.

It came along with a wave of other bannings, including the British YouTuber, “The Iconoclast.”

In June of this year, Vox creator Carlos Maza kicked off what was known as the #VoxAdpocalypse, with channels and videos being affected across the board – for example, historical channels that discussed the Second World War and the Nazis for educational purposes, had their videos removed.

It remains to be seen whether this letter from Wojcicki marks a turning point for censorship on YouTube, or, the far more likely option, that they will continue to talk a good talk on the topic, but will do nothing to improve the situation.

You can read an abridged version of the letter below: