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YouTube Says It Will Crack Down On Bizarre Videos Targeting Children (theverge.com)

"Earlier this week, a report in The New York Times and a blog post on Medium drew a lot of attention to a world of strange and sometimes disturbing YouTube videos aimed at young children," reports The Verge. "The genre [...] makes use of popular characters from family-friendly entertainment, but it's often created with little care, and can quickly stray from innocent themes to scenes of violence or sexuality." YouTube is cracking down and will now age restrict videos that violate its policy. From the report: The first line of defense for YouTube Kids are algorithmic filters. After that, there is a team of humans that review videos which have been flagged. If a video with recognizable children's characters gets flagged in YouTube's main app, which is much larger than the Kids app, it will be sent to the policy review team. YouTube says it has thousands of people working around the clock in different time zones to review flagged content. If the review finds the video is in violation of the new policy, it will be age restricted, automatically blocking it from traveling to the Kids app. YouTube says it typically takes at least a few days for content to make its way from YouTube proper to YouTube Kids, and the hope is that within that window, users will flag anything potentially disturbing to children. YouTube also has a team of volunteer moderators, which it calls Contributors, looking for inappropriate content. YouTube says it will start training its review team on the new policy and it should be live within a few weeks. Along with filtering content out of the Kids app, the new policy will also tweak who can see these videos on YouTube's main service. Flagged content will be age restricted, and users won't be able to see those videos if they're not logged in on accounts registered to users 18 years or older. All age-gated content is also automatically exempt from advertising. That means this new policy could put a squeeze on the booming business of crafting strange kid's content.

109 comments

  1. Fine, but... by freeze128 · · Score: 2

    As long as they don't censor "legitimate satire". Sure, keep the poor kids safe from ponies sliding into boxes of nails, but don't unjustly remove Charlie the Unicorn, or anything from Robot Chicken.

    1. Re: Fine, but... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Age restriction is not censorship.

      Especially because they're talking about the YouTube Kids app.

    2. Re: Fine, but... by tepples · · Score: 1

      The article also mentions demonetization. That could be considered censorship, as the uploader in some cases (such as Robot Chicken-type productions) may have to pay royalties per view to the upstream licensor.

    3. Re: Fine, but... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Well, it is really. But it's a kind of censorship that pretty much all adults agree is OK, because it doesn't apply to them.

    4. Re: Fine, but... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Then quit being a troll by labeling your satire videos as educational you jerk.

    5. Re:Fine, but... by Samantha+Wright · · Score: 4, Informative

      RTFA. This is about a specific genre of semi-randomly-generated videos that exist only to extract ad revenue, not edgy MLP memes.

      --
      Bio questions? Ask me to start a Q&A journal. Computer analogies available for most topics!
    6. Re: Fine, but... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Have you ever tried to calm down a three-year-old who has just seen his favourite cartoon hero's head ripped out?

      I have and it changed my perception of age restriction.

    7. Re:Fine, but... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Ah "for the children" in action. It's for a good cause so yadda yadda something something.

      We've seen again and again after every Youtube purge that way more people get hit than their stated targets. Remember all that "Oh noes, ads on evil extremist propaganda!" outrage which ended up demonetizing everything from historical channels to video games and fitness channels?

      They nuke everything that's not explicitely on a white list from orbit just to get rid of potential bad press by outrage farms.

    8. Re:Fine, but... by Samantha+Wright · · Score: 1

      That is true, but, again, this is a specific body of work that combines the same recordings of nursery rhymes with bizarre gibberish videos. It's not content that anyone wants, and it's only thrived because of how YouTube's auto-play works, essentially using toddlers to farm ad money. Fingerprinting it will be pretty easy and reliable based on the reused audio channels.

      --
      Bio questions? Ask me to start a Q&A journal. Computer analogies available for most topics!
    9. Re: Fine, but... by Opportunist · · Score: 1

      If labeling them as satire and displaying some kind of "Hey, kids, get lost!" splash screen is enough to keep you from getting the monetary rug pulled out under you I'm with you.

      I just doubt that it's going to be. I mean, why should it be different this time?

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
    10. Re: Fine, but... by Opportunist · · Score: 2

      So it's now the internet's business to protect your kid?

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
    11. Re: Fine, but... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Don't use the TV (or youtube) as babysitter then.

    12. Re: Fine, but... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      If a company is providing a service which claims to protect your kids, yes, it's their job to do that.

    13. Re:Fine, but... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Sure it is. Now taking bets on whether or not this "algorithm" will specifically target videos that might give kids information or entertainment that may lead to wrongthink.

    14. Re:Fine, but... by Hal_Porter · · Score: 2

      I bet Queer Kids Stuff will be OK, given that Kevin Spacey recently demonstrated being LGBT is an affirmative defence against charges of paedophilia in the eyes of bien pensants types.

      Blaire White's channel got demonetized though, because being transgender is not an affirmative defence to charges of being conservative.

      --
      echo -e 'global _start\n _start:\n mov eax, 2\n int 80h\n jmp _start' > a.asm; nasm a.asm -f elf; ld a.o -o a;
    15. Re:Fine, but... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Hell, if the recent Roy Moore allegations and subsequent comments are any indication, being a Republican is an affirmative defense against charges of pedophilia.

    16. Re:Fine, but... by Hal_Porter · · Score: 2

      Hardly

      https://www.axios.com/republic...

      What they're saying:

      Vice President Mike Pence said, via his spokesperson, that Pence believes that if the allegations against Roy Moore are true, then "this would disqualify anyone from serving in office."

      Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell: "If these allegations are true, he must step aside."

      Sen. John McCain: "The allegations against Roy Moore are deeply disturbing and disqualifying. He should immediately step aside and allow the people of Alabama to elect a candidate they are proud of."

      Former Gov. of Massachusetts: "Innocent until proven guilty is for criminal convictions, not elections. I believe Leigh Corfman. Her account is too serious to ignore. Moore is unfit for office and should step aside."

      Sen. Lisa Murkowski said, "I'm horrified and if this is true he needs to step down immediately." She also said she has spoken to Luther Strange about becoming a write-in challenge, ultimately challenging Moore in the Dec. 12 election.

      Sen. Ted Cruz, who endorsed Roy Moore: "These are serious and troubling allegations. If they are true, Judge Moore should immediately withdraw. However, we need to know the truth, and Judge Moore has the right to respond to these accusations."

      Sen. Jeff Flake: "If there is any shred of truth to the allegations against Roy Moore, he should step aside immediately."

      Sen. John Cornyn, who endorsed Moore and is listed on his website, said: "Well I think the next steps are up to the governor and the people of Alabama. I find it deeply disturbing and troubling. If it is true, I don't think his candidacy is sustainable."

      Sen. David Perdue called the allegations "devastating" and said Moore should withdraw if they're true.

      Sen. Pat Toomey: "If there's a shred of truth to it, then he need to step aside."

      Sen. Richard Shelby: "If that's true, then he wouldn't belong in the Senate."

      Sen. Mike Lee: "If these allegations are true, Roy Moore needs to step down."

      Sen. Tim Scott: "If they're accurate, he should step aside."

      Sen. Cory Gardner, chairman of national republican senatorial committee: "If these allegations are found to be true, Roy Moore must drop out of the Alabama special Senate election."

      Sen. Rob Portman: "It was very troubling ... if what we read is true and people are on the record so I assume it is..." Moore should step aside.

      Sen. Susan Collins: "If there is any truth at all to these horrific allegations, Roy Moore should immediately step aside as a Senate candidate."

      Sen. John Hoeven: "The allegations against Roy Moore are very serious and if true, he should step down as a candidate for the Senate."

      Trump said he should stand aside if the allegations are true

      http://fortune.com/2017/11/10/...

      Sanders said that Trump âoebelieves we cannot allow a mere allegation, in this case from many years ago, to destroy a person's life.

      "However, the president also believes that if these allegations are true, Judge Moore will do the right thing and step aside."

      --
      echo -e 'global _start\n _start:\n mov eax, 2\n int 80h\n jmp _start' > a.asm; nasm a.asm -f elf; ld a.o -o a;
    17. Re: Fine, but... by deesine · · Score: 1

      YouTube is "the internet"?

      --
      damaged by dogma
    18. Re:Fine, but... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      body of work that combines the same recordings of nursery rhymes with bizarre gibberish videos

      The Teletubbies were hugely popular.

      It's not content that anyone wants

      Questionable. If it was nobody would watch it.

      My point is: Youtube will not stop at these "undesirables". They never have before.

    19. Re:Fine, but... by Hal_Porter · · Score: 1

      Ben Shapiro on the allegations

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?...

      --
      echo -e 'global _start\n _start:\n mov eax, 2\n int 80h\n jmp _start' > a.asm; nasm a.asm -f elf; ld a.o -o a;
    20. Re: Fine, but... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I know it is enough because they aren't talking about YouTube in general but the YouTube Kids app.
      You can set your channel rating to mature and you'll never get flagged by that app because your videos will never show up in that app.

    21. Re: Fine, but... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Says the childless know-it-all.

  2. "Bizarre" you say? by Tablizer · · Score: 2, Insightful

    So Trump's boy-scout speech is a goner.

    1. Re: "Bizarre" you say? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Trump fights the good fight.
      But whoever wins, we're screwed.

    2. Re:"Bizarre" you say? by whyyisthissohard · · Score: 2

      You know your habit of relating anything you possibly can to Trump is a mental illness right?

      At least you can see his public persona is so burned into your brain that it floats to the top of your list of priorities to mention with regularity.

      but you don't know me! This just happened this one time!

      Once is enough because the train of thought leading from 'children's videos' to 'Trump' goes through a narrow passage in a simple situation. In other words, of all the things you could have connected to that possibly could harm children, you choose a very indirect one with an extremely subjective interpretation because of the perceived social reward at the end, despite any logic or reasoning or honesty, the traits that make you human.

      TL;DR - get a grip lemming

    3. Re:"Bizarre" you say? by Tablizer · · Score: 1

      You know your habit of relating anything you possibly can to Trump is a mental illness right?

      I have the best Trump writing, believe me! I invented Trump writing and I invented Al Gore. My Yuuuuge crowds and the bigly generals are all telling me how great my Trump writing is.

  3. Aw shit by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    I hope they keep this one up

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?...

    1. Re: Aw shit by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That may have been the coolest shit Iâ(TM)ve ever seen.

    2. Re:Aw shit by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Came here to make this exact comment. Checked for it first. It's my all time favourite.

    3. Re:Aw shit by Trax3001BBS · · Score: 2

      Funny you should mention poop, Toilet Poop is a kid area mention to teach them
      https://www.youtube.com/result...

      This one has a place of it's own https://www.youtube.com/watch?...

    4. Re: Aw shit by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Pretty sure 10k of those views are mine.

    5. Re:Aw shit by Hal_Porter · · Score: 1

      It's only a matter of time before the actress who played Stephanie goes public with sordid tales of sexual blackmail, exploitation and casting couches.

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      echo -e 'global _start\n _start:\n mov eax, 2\n int 80h\n jmp _start' > a.asm; nasm a.asm -f elf; ld a.o -o a;
    6. Re:Aw shit by ichimunki · · Score: 1

      Thank you.

      --
      I do not have a signature
  4. How about religions? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Here we have an entire system of brainwashing targeted at children by their parents.

    1. Re:How about religions? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You disgusting racist islamophobe!

      Oh not that one? Carry on then!

    2. Re:How about religions? by Opportunist · · Score: 0

      The difference between a delusion, a conspiracy theory, a cult and a religion is basically the number of people that believe the same impossible, harebrained bullshit.

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
    3. Re: How about religions? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Oooh how edgy!

    4. Re:How about religions? by Hal_Porter · · Score: 0

      Successful religions are probably successful because they tell their followers to expand and kill or convert the unbelievers. I.e. they've got 'survival characteristics' in a Darwinian sense. E.g. most religions tend to encourage their followers to have large numbers of children and discourage birth control, abortion. homosexuality and childlessness. Some allow believers to treat unbelievers badly, and punish apostasy with death.

      I.e. they tend to become a majority and then 'encourage' the unbelievers to convert, by which point they're universally believed and not vulnerable to criticism from unbelievers. And believers who dissent get labelled apostates and killed.

      --
      echo -e 'global _start\n _start:\n mov eax, 2\n int 80h\n jmp _start' > a.asm; nasm a.asm -f elf; ld a.o -o a;
    5. Re:How about religions? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      most religions tend to encourage their followers to have large numbers of children

      That's not really specific to religions. That's the fundamental purpose of all life. From plants, to insects, to humans.

  5. Re:what about the children? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Sure, the Democrats that keep getting rounded up and hauled away could use some company. No wonder they keep trying to give felons the vote; they're running unopposed in the slammer.

  6. Reactive vs proactive by geschbacher79 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    The problem I have with this approach is that it still relies on a human viewing the video, flagging it (instead of just clicking away quickly), content moderators intervening, etc. During that time, however, more kids could be exposed to these types of videos.

    Instead, for Youtube Kids, it would be better for parents and kids to have a videos go through a proactive approval process before they are shown. Google obviously doesn't want this: They want magic algorithms to avoid having human review every video for scalability and monetary reason. But I think this process is flawed for Youtube Kids (I'm not as concerned about Youtube proper). Google makes money from these videos, but they want essentially zero responsibility for the content.

    Note that there is still room for parody and disturbing videos involving kids characters. I'm fine with that. What these articles are referring to, however, are video creators intentionally gaming the system to get their videos past the Youtube Kids filters in order to get views.

    Google needs to step up and be proactive if they want Youtube Kids to actually be reliable instead of a wild west shitshow of scary content.

    1. Re:Reactive vs proactive by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      After reading the article and watching some of the videos, I really don't think this is the "problem" that some people are trying to make it into.

      Yes, these videos are very weird. And pointless. And weird.

      But weird, by itself is not particularly harmful.

      What's really happening here is a bunch of people and/or bots cranking out massive amounts of random content with world-salad titles (to make the videos show up in keyword searches), with other bots clicking on the videos to run up the view counts. All for the sole purpose of gaming the system and generating ad revenue for themselves.

      This is even mentioned in the article but quickly glossed over because the author is more interested in pushing a narrative about some vast, dark, secret conspiracy to harm our children.

    2. Re: Reactive vs proactive by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Well it's easy to enact some kind of change when you bring out the "it's for the children" line.

      How about don't let your kids watch YouTube alone...do some parenting and if you are going to have them watch something then pick a movie or show that's obviously not bad.

      I'd never trust google to curate content for my kids. They don't even do it properly for me.

    3. Re:Reactive vs proactive by Greyfox · · Score: 1

      They could probably do an AI that would correctly classify most of them. Those videos are targeting toddlers whose parents are letting an iPad do the babysitting, and currently use very specific keywords. Whip out tensor flow and train it on the video content, combine it with keyword matching and I think you could hit 99% accuracy. If those videos have to start varying their keywords, it'll be a lot harder for their target audience to find them.

      --

      I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?

    4. Re: Reactive vs proactive by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The word-salad titles and bizarre content look almost like evolution at work. Itâ(TM)s like some Elsa-Spiderman meme is in a sense alive and evolving, adapting to the algorithms. We always worried about Skynet, but what if the AI is born not of our military technology but of the dregs of child-targeted drivel?

  7. Re:what about the children? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
  8. Re:what about the children? by PopeRatzo · · Score: 0, Troll

    Sure, the Democrats...

    Roy Moore molested a child and you're playing "whaddabout"?

    It was a kid that he met at the courthouse when her mom was in court at a custody hearing. Guy's a fucking predator and should be on a sex-offender registry.

    --
    You are welcome on my lawn.
  9. Re:Roy Moore says by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I know, right ? They even elected their own version of Harvey Weinstein as president. Go figure.

  10. Should YT Kids require YT Red? by tepples · · Score: 2

    As you mentioned, proactive costs money, which has to come from somewhere. If you were in charge of YouTube Kids, would you fund proactive review by requiring a valid YouTube Red subscription in order to access the app?

    1. Re:Should YT Kids require YT Red? by 110010001000 · · Score: 2

      You must be kidding. Google is making billions off of ads and selling your (and your kids) data. It is already fully "funded"

    2. Re:Should YT Kids require YT Red? by tepples · · Score: 2

      Google is making billions off of ads and selling your (and your kids) data.

      But apparently, it has been demonstrated that the "billions off of ads and selling your (and your kids) data" that "Google is making" are insufficient to hire an army of human reviewers to review every minute of video uploaded to YouTube for age appropriateness.

    3. Re:Should YT Kids require YT Red? by drsquare · · Score: 1

      It's not insufficient, they just don't want to spend any money or do any work. Google's business model is making zillions merely by existing and sitting there as a middle man, doing stuff defeats the point.

  11. Kids will be Kids by rtb61 · · Score: 1

    Of course not to get too carried away but kids will make use of the media they are exposed to, to rudely edit for shits and giggles. So kids targeting kids or adults targeting kids and of course the worst of them psychologist working at advertising agencies, manipulating children to steal their pocket money, using peer pressure attacks and devaluing their existence so they need to buy their way out of depression a fabrication created by adults targeting children for profit.

    No matter how bad some of their content, the targeted at a minor ad that google serves before hand still likely worse and more psychologically damaging. Want safety have a children's only internet fully supervised by adults and no un approved ads. Instead, some bullshit waffle about how they need to political censor the entire internet and only allow pro US corporate propaganda.

    --
    Chaos - everything, everywhere, everywhen
  12. Re:what about the children? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Obama killed countless children and you're playing "whaddabout"?

  13. What about... by mejustme · · Score: 1

    Does this mean I will finally have a way to block my children from spending their time following Team 10, Jake Paul, and other related garbage?

    For a while I put in a host entry on their computer to redirect www.youtube.com to 127.0.0.1, but that is a pretty big hammer. They do have legitimate things they watch on Youtube, like tutorials on MIT Scratch and Blender. But this recent craze with you youtubers making crazy amounts of money and influencing kids in negative ways...wish there was a way to block that kind of garbage.

    1. Re:What about... by Szeraax · · Score: 1

      Are you willing to put in work? You could setup a web proxy that will get the video name or author and optionally return some other random youtube if it matches one of the blacklisted items.

      Just an idea.

    2. Re:What about... by fodder69 · · Score: 1

      That's a decent idea, but IMO i have wanted an option to put certain users and videos on a personal blacklist. There have been videos that my non verbal autistic son has come across that start off with Elmo and end up with random hardcore metal and epileptic seizure inducing strobe lights. I can delete them from history but they get recommended again. Be very easy for them to put a 'Don't ever show me this video" or "videos from this user'.

    3. Re:What about... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It shows the hypocrisy of Google very nicely. They are quite willing to throws tons of money of this garbage endorsing people with shitty behaviour but so keen on filtering people with different lifestyles and opinions that silicon valley doesn't approve of.

    4. Re: What about... by Szeraax · · Score: 1

      And that's just what I'm suggesting. You can now have a personal white or black list of any complexity desired. Would likely require you to make a cert and trust it on client machines that are MITM'd by this proxy. ... I wonder if you could just do this same thing with zscaler and similar services...

  14. bullshit. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    This has been happening for a long time, there have been several campaigns to report these videos across multiple websites. They never get removed, and the further into the playlists you get the more disturbing and sexual content you find, including people hitting on the kids in the comments, asking for their email, some of them even trade cp in the comments.
    And fuck all is ever done. Why should I believe them now?

  15. FFS it's two people by slashmydots · · Score: 1

    It's the Bradbury brothers and that one creepy foreign guy. They make almost 100% of creepy content targeted at kids.

    1. Re: FFS it's two people by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      There are 5 different channels (source: elsagate subreddit).

    2. Re: FFS it's two people by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      There are like hundreds of hours of creepy "Mickey mouse dies and gets pregnant with vampire baby"-esque cartoons on YouTube kids, it's not just two guys. It's a whole sweatshop of animators in vietnam

  16. Re:what about the children? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Rabbi, why are your panties in twist about an thin-reed 30 year old allegation of pederasty, but not over Democrat Senator Bob Menendez took trips to the Dominican Republic for decades to ball child sex slaves? Keep projecting pedoratz.

  17. Re:what about the children? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    He's making a direct comparison to the numerous SJWs who previously went around calling dissenters violent rapists and pedophiles who have themselves been convicted of rape, pedophilia, child porn, sexual harassment and gun running.

    Scum is scum, no matter where is comes from. It's just that the SJW crew has a lot more scum in it.

  18. Re:what about the children? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Age 14 is not prepubescent. Not all pedophiles are child molesters and not all child molesters are pedophiles.

  19. booming ? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    what the hell is
    " the booming business of crafting strange kid's content. "

  20. So.. by itomato · · Score: 2

    No more vintage Sesame Street?

  21. Accounts vs videos by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    They don't need to 'proactively vet every video', they only need to actively vet every ACCOUNT used to upload the videos, once there is enough to judge the channel it can be flagged as suitable for toddlers. If viewers then flag enough videos as problematic, they can change that status on the account as a whole.

    These videos are more than odd. They're designed to generate violent toddlers. The avatars are clearly human, even if in colorful garb, the weapons are realistic. There is no clear separator between reality and fiction there for children to build that barrier in their heads. Which seems to be the point.

  22. How about an easier way by fodder69 · · Score: 2

    So my is severely autistic and loves you tube. There are videos he finds related to elmo or what have you that start innocent and devolve into epilepsy inducing random loud music, screaming, and what not.

    I will delete them from history but they get recommended again.

    Can I just flag a video as 'Never show me this again', would that be so hard?

    1. Re:How about an easier way by Trax3001BBS · · Score: 1

      So my is severely autistic and loves you tube. There are videos he finds related to elmo or what have you that start innocent and devolve into epilepsy inducing random loud music, screaming, and what not.

      I will delete them from history but they get recommended again.

      Can I just flag a video as 'Never show me this again', would that be so hard?

      You don't log into youtube.com and you fare better.

      I have a video that saw an influx of viewers (400K+) and have their demographics, much only available if they had logged in.

    2. Re:How about an easier way by fodder69 · · Score: 1

      True but on the other hand logging in allows him to save favorite videos and it doesn't really address the issue.

    3. Re:How about an easier way by Trax3001BBS · · Score: 1

      True but on the other hand logging in allows him to save favorite videos and it doesn't really address the issue.

      It was a thought, I know you have no history when not logging in, but Google doesn't play stupid and the subject you last perfered is offered.

      Another thought is too far out to suggest, but not to mention :) I have two grandkids. When the need to pacify them arrises, I pull out my cell phone that I've previously transfered cartoons to. It works very well for me, BooBa and Oddbods my buddies (sound not required).

  23. Re: what about the children? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Oh shut up with that sjw crap. Mix and match whatever you want they are still disgusting people and will never elicit sympathy aside from weirdos like you

  24. Well they cracked down on this one by Trax3001BBS · · Score: 3, Informative

    paw patrol babies pretend to commit suicide https://www.youtube.com/watch?...

    I saw this one a few days ago, it was the comments that caught me and I'm sure had a lot to do with this crack down.

    1. Re:Well they cracked down on this one by Trax3001BBS · · Score: 1

      I should add this was removed when I linked to it.

  25. Re:Why do you expect the world to coddle your chil by LoTonah · · Score: 5, Insightful

    That's bullshit. You obviously have never been a parent.

    Yes, parents shouldn't let kids live on a tablet all day long...sometimes you just want them to be entertained for a few minutes so you can focus on what you are doing (in my case, my autistic daughter is given a tablet, so I can get some shit done like cooking dinner or doing a bit of woodworking to make some money). It takes no time at all to stumble on this crap. I don't really like her seeing videos where her favorite characters are having their heads ripped off and their bodies lying in a pool of blood (yes, that happened). In Youtube Kids, there doesn't seem to be an easy way to block videos or channels. I would completely block all that content if I could.

    And before you say I'm a bad parent...you don't know my life and my problems. Sick of SWJ neckbeards telling me what they think parenting should be without ever even babysitting before.

  26. Good, get rid of "Queer Kid Stuff" and such by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    This shit where people make videos trying to teach young kids who can barely write a sentence to be "non-binary" and "queer" needs to go. It's grossly inappropriate for ALL kids and it's loaded with misinformation and social justice agenda bullshit. Pop n' Olly need to die off as well; they are not only shitty people but they're super DMCA abusers and cyber-bullies when any criticism is leveled against their "show" (see what they did to a YouTuber called "irate bear.")

    If you're making a video trying to teach five-year-olds about alternative adult sexual life choices, you are the cancer that is killing the world.

  27. Re:Why do you expect the world to coddle your chil by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Defensive much?

    It's actually not bullshit. YouTube kids is shit precisely because there are no ratings or parental controls. This is why I DO NOT ALLOW my children to use it. Solution simple. Have them watch something safe like PBS kids (free) or Netflix or something else that allows you to make sure your kids aren't watching disgusting content. In my house, my tablets won't even open apps that connect to the internet except for the ones that I've approved without putting in my master password. If my kids want to watch dumb unrated shit on YouTube then you can bet your ass I'm not going to let them explore it themselves. You openly admit that your child is incapable of avoiding this garbage and then hand her the device that seals her doom. That's just plain stupid.

  28. Google uses mturk by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Title says it all.

  29. Re:Why do you expect the world to coddle your chil by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Of course it's easier to let the kid sit alone with a tablet, and doing so once in a while is not a problem. With an autistic child, doing so most of the time may not be a problem either (I'm not sure even a doctor would know for sure what is best).

    But that doesn't mean you need to allow them access to Youtube. You can set up a tablet such that the kid can only run the apps YOU installled, and as long as that doesn't include the youtube app (or a browser), they can't watch this crap. Instead, you download the videos you want to allow your kid to watch, and use a local video player.

    The great thing about kids (in this case) is that they love watching the same video again and again until they can repeat every f**king line. Really annoying if you are in the same room as them, but it does mean that you only need to download maybe ten videos.

  30. Down with this sort of thing by bestweasel · · Score: 1
    1. Re:Down with this sort of thing by dezent · · Score: 1

      This is Monty Python..

    2. Re: Down with this sort of thing by bestweasel · · Score: 1
  31. Re:what about the children? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Arguing semantics about a scumbag child predator? Maybe the feds should take a look at your hard drive and search history.

  32. A silver lining - adfree content. by edgedmurasame · · Score: 2

    If you don't want ads on your videos, what prevents someone from just marking the video as 18+?

    --
    "Forget the engineers." -Carly Fiorina, briber of MIT Technology Review.
  33. It's money they want from these "bizarre" videos? by Opportunist · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Then it is absolutely trivial to solve. Simply wait two months before paying a dime, put it in your EULA that you don't see a cent if your video is "bizarre" (and I mean not a cent AT ALL, not "from whenever we notice") and you'll see these videos vanish pretty fucking quickly.

    If it's not the video itself that's the goal for these people, like with the terrorists who don't give a fuck whether they make ad revenue with their message from imaginary friends that want you dead, but if they game the system for money, all you have to do is deny them the money and their incentive to make those videos ceases immediately.

    --
    We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
  34. Do you mean disturbing videos like this? by cbeaudry · · Score: 1

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?... Because that is probably one of the worst videos I have seen targeting kids.

  35. Re:Why do you expect the world to coddle your chil by Baron_Yam · · Score: 3, Interesting

    100% with you on this. Not only that, but hovering over your children filtering every experience they have is bad for them too. We call those parents 'helicopter parents' and complain about the bad behaviour of their 'snowflakes'.

    I've taught my kids that inappropriate content exists and that I don't want them watching it. They also know that I will randomly pop my head in once in a while to see what's on their screens. And they know I have the ability to monitor their network connection if I want to do so. They generally stick to the kid-approved sources and it's nice to know that the content therein is well filtered so I don't have to be too concerned or vigilant.

    I also know they're sneaking peaks at stuff they shouldn't. As long as it's not totally out of bounds and it's not happening frequently... so what? They're kids and that's part of growing up.

    I don't know about you, but when I was a kid I saw a porn magazine or two when I was far younger than I should have been, and I occasionally snuck some inappropriate late-night television movies into my schedule when I was a bit older. I'm pretty sure I'm mostly undamaged.

  36. The process is failing by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "The first line of defense for YouTube Kids are algorithmic filters. After that, there is a team of humans that review videos which have been flagged. If a video with recognizable children's characters gets flagged in YouTube's main app, which is much larger than the Kids app, it will be sent to the policy review team. YouTube says it has thousands of people working around the clock in different time zones to review flagged content. If the review finds the video is in violation of the new policy, it will be age restricted, automatically blocking it from traveling to the Kids app."

    Yes but this process has been failing. What is different about Alphabet's new process that will change anything?

  37. No they wont. It is a lie. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    If they were going to do it, they would already have done it. There is so much law, and liability, and threat of brand damage for harming children.
    They know cars. They know laws about cars. The vast majority of new laws are because of lawsuits by insurance companies surrounding child harm. They knew a long time ago.

    What they are doing right now is placating the public because of a news story.

    How you are going to tell if they care about kids.
    - one can differentiate child from adult by usage. Netflix has done it for years. There are "eigen-paths", characteristic trajectories in the viewing space that indicate the nature of the viewer. If you don't know what that is, this conversation is above your head, get someone with a brain to come do your thinking. When google applies their beloved markov chains (go see the claims in their patents to get a sense of how critical this tool is to their "magic smoke") to differentiating the level of maturity of the user, and then selects away from the dopamine addicting them, then they might be about protecting them instead of prematurely product-izing them. Does social media addiction to the micro-dopamine hits predispose individuals to higher levels of addiction to dopamine impacting drugs like opiods? By asking the question now, you can expect google to try and show how evil they are by sculpting the demographics away from their apparent culpability over the next 5 years.
    - if they change the commercials that get associated with the kids videos. This is them talking with their money, not some sock-puppet.
    - if they implement a deeply draconian rule, like sexual predators on children under age 13, or age 17, are ACTUALLY banned instead of just theoretically banned. That would help.

    I expect them to do what they so consistently do: f* the serf class.

  38. Re:Roy Moore says by freak0fnature · · Score: 1

    lol, you seem to think that the law turns off sexual desire...I mean we are all just animals right? I remember a girl in 6th grade with D-cups...she turned every mans head. Could you resist her if she had a thing for you? I know that's not what the story is, but it doesn't add up...why would you leave your 14 year old girl alone with a grown man, and why would you allow her to go over to his place alone. I'm not even be comfortable leaving my 14 year old alone with male family members, let alone a complete stranger!!

  39. More Censorship from Google by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Ever since Alphabet bought YouTube, they have been running it into the ground in an attempt to turn it into another Netflix. Many of their content creators have had to resort to Patrion for monitization and most of creators even slightly right of Stalin are opening channels on vid.me, Minds.com, Bitchute, and Twitch as they find their videos placed demonitized, and/or placed in restricted state.

  40. Youtube has already cracked down on conservatives by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Any opinion that is not acceptably leftist is absolutely not tolerated at google.

    Conservative opinions are often demonetised, sandboxed, age restricted, or outright censored.

  41. whitelist...? by Killall+-9+Bash · · Score: 1

    Speaking of whitelists.... why in the name of FUCK is there a children's service not running on whitelisted content...? Have people not figured out after 20+ years that the blacklisting paradigm DOES NOT WORK...?

    --
    "Prediction: within 10 years, Windows will be a Linux distribution." Me, 7-6-2016
  42. why not vet content creators by norweeg · · Score: 0

    If your youtube channel want to target children, why not vet them as "safe" first? As a content creator, you can request the vetting required to be viewable by youtube kids which may include signing a contract that requires adherence to the guidelines of youtube kids content. If you get vetted and violate the guidelines, google hauls your ass to court for breach of contract and punishes you for abusing their platform to traumatize children. Producers of Robot Chicken-style content would not pursue this vetting and therefore not be visible to kids but still available to their adult target audience.

  43. Something does need to be done by MattBear · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I've seen this stuff first hand and it's kind of shocking. My four year old daughter was watching Frozen or My Little Pony videos on my tablet, I hear screams coming from whatever she's watching so I look, and its a crudely animated parody of My Little Pony where everything is getting killed and full of foul language, it made South Park look tame. It was the kind of stuff 15 year old me would of thought was funny, but not a little girl. So the YouTube thing pretty much ended then and there. She has the run of NetFlix Kids now though.

  44. About fking time by omfglearntoplay · · Score: 1

    Glad the new people made Google do something about it. You can blame the parents or whatever you want, but the end result is kids who are being exposed to messed up stuff is a problem, and they aren't wise enough to avoid it themselves.

  45. Re:what about the children? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Jesus shit-fucking Christ... are you really defending pedophilia? What the Bloody-tampon Mary is wrong with you?

  46. Re:Why do you expect the world to coddle your chil by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Yeah, you don't get to swing the SJW bat when you're crying about how your autistic child is so much of a handful that you expect an online media company to do your parenting for you. You're on the wrong side of that one, and the apple didn't fall far from the tree if you can't figure that out.

  47. Re:Why do you expect the world to coddle your chil by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Have you considered Disney videos or other such reliable pre-vetted content? Think of Disney what you will but it's not going to traumatize your kids (note that I said your kids, not you.) Your daughter is not really going to know the difference. Just pleasant images and soothing voices.

  48. Re:Why do you expect the world to coddle your chil by WallyL · · Score: 1

    I'm pretty sure I'm mostly undamaged.

    Well, you're posting here, so...

  49. So In The USA... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    They should pull all the cartoons from broadcast TV and replace them with something more educational...

    like S O C C E R

    I said soccer because the word football means something very very different to most Americans.

  50. Bots will win... by Smid · · Score: 1

    Don't we already know this???