YouTube disables comments on children's videos in the midst of security issues

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The company, which belongs to Alphabet (GOOG), said he had disabled comments on "tens of millions" of videos last week that could be subject to "predatory behavior". He will continue to identify such videos in the coming months.

"We recognize that feedback is an integral part of the YouTube experience and how you connect with your audience and increase your audience, and at the same time, the important milestones we share today are essential. for the safety of young people, "wrote the blog blog company.

Last week, video creator Matt Watson said YouTube's algorithm was creating a "wormhole" that allowed pedophiles to easily find clips of young children doing activities such as gymnastics or yoga. using the site's recommended video feature. Some users left comments specifying when minors were seen in "compromising positions".

The revelations caused big business, including AT & T (T), Nestle (NSRGY) and Epic Games to pause their ads on YouTube. (AT & T is the parent company of CNN).

Over the next few months, YouTube has announced that it will intensify its efforts to remove comments on videos featuring young minors under 13, as well as minors under the age of 18 who are likely to be in danger. attract "predatory" actions.

A mother found videos on YouTube that gave children instructions to commit suicide

A small number of creators will be allowed to keep comments on these types of videos, but channels must actively moderate them and prove that the content is low risk. A spokesperson for YouTube declined to say which accounts or types of creators would be exempt.

"We will work directly with them and our goal is to increase that number over time, as our ability to capture abusive comments continues to improve," the company said in a statement. blog, referring to the creators.

Videos featuring minors are reported algorithmically via AI. As with any moderation assisted by AI, the method of YouTube is probably far from perfect, because it can be difficult for a computer to accurately determine the age of a person. The way they sit or stand, or the type of lighting in a video, can make determination more difficult.

Last April, YouTube announced that AI systems detected most of the videos that had been removed from the site. The company has also used AI to help expert groups such as the Internet Watch Foundation to identify and report online content related to child sexual abuse.

YouTube also announced that it was working on a more effective tool to detect and remove twice as many comments from the site.

This is not the first time that the company declares prioritizing harmful comments on its platform. In 2017, CEO Susan Wojcicki said the company "aggressively acted on comments, launching new comment moderation tools and, in some cases, completely deleting comments."
At the time, YouTube had announced that it would hire 10,000 people to clean offensive videos after a violent reaction, including disturbing messages filtering through its YouTube Kids platform.

Sara Ashley O 'Brien, Rachel Metz and Oliver Darcy of CNN Business contributed to the report.

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