Do we like them?

Do we like Susan Wojcicki?

Our score: 6 out of 10. A decent record on women and workplaces, but fair questions over how YouTube handled hate and misinformation on her watch, so a middling-good six.

Wojcicki was there at the very start of Google, famously renting out her garage to Larry Page and Sergey Brin. She went on to build its ads business, then took over YouTube as CEO in 2014 and ran it for nine years. She stepped down in February 2023 and died on 9 August 2024, aged 56.

The LGBTQ+ chapter is a mixed bag. In 2017 YouTube changed its policies after LGBTQ videos were being blocked in Restricted Mode. In 2019 she apologised to LGBTQ users over the Steven Crowder row, yet backed the decision to leave his videos up, saying “from a policy standpoint we need to be consistent”. Plenty of people thought the apology and the call didn't line up.

On misinformation, more than 80 fact-checking groups wrote to her in January 2022 saying YouTube was a major conduit for false claims about Covid, elections and more. Critics also took aim at a 2021 rule that demonetised climate misinformation rather than removing it. Those are the criticisms of others, and YouTube's reply was that fact-checking is one piece of a bigger puzzle.

Her handling of Donald Trump's channel after the January 2021 Capitol riot split people. She said it would stay suspended until the risk of violence had decreased, then be treated like any other account. Where you land depends on whether you read that as a sensible safety call or as a platform with too much power over politics.

The harm check, plainly: we found no case of her campaigning against trans people, women, migrants or anyone's rights, and no history of promoting harmful allies. No personal lawsuits or misconduct claims against her turned up either. The harm questions are about platform decisions made under her leadership, which is why this is a close call rather than a clean sheet. After leaving YouTube she put her energy into philanthropy.

The good stuff is real. Google's CEO credited her as one of the first Googlers to take maternity leave and with helping build a better workplace, and with backing educational creators, especially STEM teaching for underserved communities. She spoke up for paid parental leave, arguing a longer leave helped Google keep women.