Actually it is exactly like that, they see lost revenue coming if they get tagged as the go-to place for misinformation on this topic. They may already be seeing advertisers complaining that no matter how much they try to screen they are still getting complaints of their ads showing up in prerolls for conspiracy videos. So they are making a public show of letting everyone know that they don't want to be in that business and they are doing all they can to stay out of it.
If they will do all they can or not, who knows? It is not like they have done all that much about QAnon.
It's not a bad point, but are you sure this actually hurts Google? I believe Google and Facebook business models are advertising-based, so they strive to maximize the root mean square engagement metrics. People aren't just going to leave YouTube and Facebook et al because there's a bunch of fake news and controversy because:
1. People love that shit.
2. There's no alternative since these companies are ~monopolies that already own all of the network mass.
YouTube in particular has been demonetizing channels that they think are harmful to their business for a long time, their behaviour in this instance is consistent with that.
> trouble for allowing people to post about
> conspiracy theories
Actually it is exactly like that, they see lost revenue coming if they get tagged as the go-to place for misinformation on this topic. They may already be seeing advertisers complaining that no matter how much they try to screen they are still getting complaints of their ads showing up in prerolls for conspiracy videos. So they are making a public show of letting everyone know that they don't want to be in that business and they are doing all they can to stay out of it.
If they will do all they can or not, who knows? It is not like they have done all that much about QAnon.