[ad_1]
SAN FRANCISCO – Nestlé, Epic Games and other major brands announced Wednesday that they stopped buying ads on YouTube after running their commercials on children's videos, in which pedophiles had infiltrated commentary sections. .
The companies reacted after a YouTube user posted a video this week to highlight this behavior. In most cases, the videos targeted by pedophiles did not violate YouTube's rules and were innocent enough – girls doing gymnastics, playing Twister or doing stretches – but they were submerged with suggestive remarks directed at children.
Commentators have left time marks for parts of the video that may seem compromising when paused, such as the back or bare legs of a girl. They also posted remarks praising the girls, asking them if they were wearing underwear or if they were simply wearing a series of sexually suggestive emojis.
About two years ago, hundreds of companies took money out of YouTube due to concerns about posting ads alongside problematic content from terrorist or hate groups and videos that seemed to endanger or exploit children.
Over the past year, many major advertisers have returned to the site after being reassured by YouTube's progress in signaling and faster processing of problematic content.
Chi Hea Cho, a spokesperson for YouTube's parent company, Google, said it had removed accounts and chains of people leaving disturbing comments, removed comments violating its rules, and reported illegal activities to authorities.
"All content – including comments – endangering minors is odious and we have clear policies banning this on YouTube," Ms. Cho said. "There is still a lot of work to be done and we continue to work to improve and catch the abuse faster."
Many advertisers identified in the video and in a subsequent report by Wired – Epic Games, GNC and Nestle companies in the United States – announced the suspension of advertising on YouTube. Bloomberg News reported that Walt Disney had also suspended the broadcast of its ads but that the company had not responded to requests for comments issued Wednesday.
"When we learned about this problem, we were and are still – absolutely horrified and contacted YouTube to immediately address this problem," said Senka Hadzimuratovic, spokesperson for the Grammarly Grammar Online Tool. "We have a strict policy against advertising along with harmful or offensive content and we will never knowingly associate with such channels. It goes against everything our company represents. "
According to Ms. Cho, YouTube has disabled comments on tens of millions of videos featuring minors and removed thousands of inappropriate comments on videos featuring young people. She added that YouTube had also terminated more than 400 YouTube channels for comments left on videos and reported illegal comments to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
YouTube had trouble controlling content for children. Late 2017, the New York Times YouTube's Kids app for users under the age of 13 has revealed that disturbing content is being broadcast. Videos described the death of beloved cartoon characters and real children in difficult situations.
Some pedophiles have already been to YouTube to watch videos of minors and leave obscene or sexual comments. In response, YouTube said in 2017 that it would do more to "protect families" on its platform, pledging to remove videos endangering children and block inappropriate comments on the site. content presenting minors.
"There are real questions about whether YouTube is simply too big to provide a safe place for children," said Josh Golin, executive director of the Campaign for a Child Without Advertising.
"If you can not stop pedophiles from sharing information in your comment sections of your videos, you should not have any comments," Golin said. "It's a legitimate question to ask: what is the value of YouTube comments, in addition to the net results of Google, which is worth it is horrible?"
Although YouTube has declared hundreds of millions of comments that are contrary to its guidelines quarterly, obscene remarks about otherwise innocent videos have not been reported.
Mr. Watson, the creator of the original video, was criticized by other YouTube users, who accused him of having launched another "adpocalypse" – which many video creators have called the drop in advertising revenue generated by the boycott in 2017 – light on the issue.
These critics said in separate online videos that Mr. Watson should have flagged alleged pedophiles using YouTube's tools, rather than attracting the attention of the media and advertisers on the subject and could cost them revenues.
[ad_2]
Source link