Video-sharing website YouTube steps up its stance against child exploitation as reports surface that pedophiles are able to work around its protective mechanisms.
In a blog post, YouTube Product Management vice president Johanna Wright announced that the platform is "toughening" its approach to protect families and children on the platform after it noticed that a number of content are able to pass as family-friendly, when they are actually safe only for adult-viewing.
According to reports, the eve of Black Friday saw several global brands pull out their advertisements on the channel after they found out that their ads were appearing side-by-side with pedophile videos.
YouTube said it has deleted at least 50 channels and removed thousands of videos in the past couple of weeks in support of the new tougher guidelines. These videos include those with content that could be "endangering" a minor, even though that was not originally the uploader's content. YouTube has also tighten its age restriction on family videos that contain mature themes and adult humor, so they can be viewed only by those 18 years and above.
The video streaming giant also reports that it has strengthened its advertising-friendly guidelines. Since March, it has removed over 3.5 million advertisements on videos showing families in a violent or offensive light.
Starting this week, the website will also take a more "aggressive stance" on inappropriate comments posted on videos including minors. Now, once YouTube sees this type of statement, all comments on the particular video will be turned off. According to a BBC report, up to 100,000 predatory accounts leave indecent remarks on videos. While there are millions of users who help moderate these by flagging them and reporting them to YouTube, a problem on the platform's algorithm prevents it from actually finding the flagged remark.
Amid this report, YouTube promised to release a more comprehensive guide for family-friendly content, saying that it will employ the help of more industry experts to help their team better understand what is suitable for the whole family and what is not.
