A reason to celebrate! Let’s hope Neal takes good care of things for the benefit of the platform and content creators
After nine years on the platform, Susan Wojcicki finally stepped down as CEO of YouTube. Wojcicki is influential in the growth of Google as a company and was a longtime partner. “Susan has a unique place in Google History and has made the most incredible contribution to products used by people everywhere. We’re so grateful for all she’s done over the last 25 years” founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page said in a statement.
In YouTube’s blog, she personally sent e-mails to the platform’s employees announcing her retirement as CEO. She stated that she wanted to “start a new chapter focused on my family, health and personal projects I’m passionate about.” She did not elaborate further on these plans.
In the same blog, she also announced Neal Mohan would succeed her. Mohan is a close associate of Wojcicki and has worked on YouTube since 2015. Eventually, he became the platform’s Chief Product Officer and led its Trust and Safety team.
While Susan stepped down, there are some things that she still needs to do. For instance, in her letter, she mentioned that she will be assisting Neal as he transitions to his new position and will continue to work with YouTube employees, coaching team members, and even meet with creators. Moreover, she will continue to work for Google as an adviser and offers guidance and counselling.
Wojcicki’s leadership over the platform has lead to several controversies. During her tenure as CEO, she faced criticisms from journalists and individual content creators alike on how the platform handled content, how the platform became disillusioned with individual content creator, strict and inconsistent advertising policies, and ongoing concerns about child privacy. One of the most recent examples of controversies under her tenure was the removal of dislikes in YouTube and policies dealt with COPPA which involved disabling the mini-player and the comment section.
Source: YouTube, YouTube Blog, BBC
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