The Oscars moving to YouTube is an algorithm problem as much as a broadcasting problem. Starting in 2029, the ceremony will live in a recommendation system that decides what people see next, and that system is optimized for engagement, not judgment. A free stream is admirable, but the surrounding machinery can distort attention, amplify outrage, and bury nuance. If captions and multilingual audio are included, that is a genuine accessibility gain. Still, the platform can quietly tweak a ranking and change the cultural conversation without any vote. The Academy should treat this like cryptography: design for adversaries, assume manipulation, and build checks. Otherwise the show will be free, and the audience will be captive.