Facing criticism over the videos it recommends to users, YouTube seems to have a new favorite talking point, one that might surprise anyone who has spent time online: Extreme content, the company claims, just doesn’t do that well on the site.

The strange assertion came up on Tuesday, when Bloomberg published an investigation alleging that YouTube ignored employees’ warnings about how the platform was promoting toxic videos, with executives prioritizing engagement above all other goals. A spokesperson challenged this characterization and told Bloomberg that “generally extreme content does not perform well on the platform.”

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