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YouTube To Implement New Guidelines To Protect Minors From Disturbing Content (cnet.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the new-and-improved dept.

YouTube will be implementing five new rules to protect minors from disturbing content. They include removing ads from inappropriate videos and blocking predatory comments from videos that feature minors. CNET reports: The new guidelines are as follows:

-Tougher application of Community Guidelines and faster enforcement through technology
-Removing ads from inappropriate videos targeting families
-Blocking inappropriate comments on videos featuring minors
-Providing guidance for creators who make family-friendly content
-Engaging and learning from experts

These rules follow recent reports that expose fundamental flaws in YouTube algorithms and screening protocol, which fail to recognize or pull down videos that feature disturbing imagery but are aimed at children for monetization purposes. Videos featuring children doing innocuous activities like exercising are also riddled with predatory or sexual comments from viewers, something YouTube is attempting to curb with its new guidelines.

41 of 95 comments (clear)

  1. "New Guidelines" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I'm guessing they will involve not sharing ad revenue with smaller youtube creators. Just a hunch.

    1. Re:"New Guidelines" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

      That's not new though. It was called the adpocalypse. Unless you have a REALLY big channel or are in Youtube's in-group you already have a hard time to monetize your content.

  2. How about common sense? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Skip the filtering and whatnot.

    In case parents give their offsprings access to the digital equivalent of a sharp tool they have to supervise them.

    Oh, I forgot: we're talking about a company in a moron country that lawyered up to make others pay for the own neglect.

    1. Re:How about common sense? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      You can't fight the machine.

      What is being quite literately dumped on youtube are computer generated music videos/nursery rhymes/childrens songs that are generated and animated entirely by machine, and it's resulting in some substantially disturbing content. All in the name of trying to milk money from advertisers while doing almost no actual work.

      This is not really aimed at the predatory type of content (eg revenge porn, cyberbullying and similar themes) though I suppose it helps curb that and the doxxing that is a result of that content being easily uploaded without any second thought of consequences for the subject of the video.

      But seriously, the amount of south-park level of shit without the nuance being uploaded in order to frighten or disturb children (eg childrens characters being murdered, extremely violently) is beyond what would be considered human-filterable. It's generated so quickly and frequently that it would take an unlimited number of staff to deal with it.

    2. Re:How about common sense? by rhazz · · Score: 1
      It seems fairly common sense that the "YouTube Kids" app would have age-appropriate content. It is literally advertised as a version of YouTube fit for kids.

      In case parents give their offsprings access to the digital equivalent of a sharp tool they have to supervise them.

      YouTube Kids containing hidden horror shows is the equivalent of the Disney Channel broadcasting Mickey Mouse murdering his friends. The difference being that there are actually rules for what is ok to be broadcast on TV and the Disney Channel would be fined for that kind of gross neglect.

  3. That's cute. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Interesting

    So when are they going to do something about their discrimination based on political affiliation, and having knee-jerk reactions to the tragedy of the week?

  4. Simple guidelines for parents by LordHighExecutioner · · Score: 1
    • 1) Check the youtube video by yourself before showing it to your children.
    • 2) View the video always with your children
    • 3) Never forget rules 1) and rules 2)
    1. Re:Simple guidelines for parents by aevan · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Never! Youtube has replaced the tv as the babysitter for kids.

      Used to be you plunk them infront of the idiot box and let Disney/Tubbies/PolkaDotDoor occupy them while you did housework/cooking/fucked off to the store/entertained adult friends. Now it's you hand each kid a tablet and maybe tell them to use headphones...while you did housework/cooked/fucked off to store/chatted with people online on your own device.

      Don't criticise! They have *reasons*

    2. Re:Simple guidelines for parents by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      If youtube wants to do anything to help parents, they should make it so they (parents) can white list the videos their kids can watch.
      It shouldn't be youtube's job to determine what the kids can and can't watch. That is up to the parents.

    3. Re:Simple guidelines for parents by Kokuyo · · Score: 1

      I had better not tell you how we do parenting it seems. I'm pretty sure you wouldn't approve :D.

    4. Re:Simple guidelines for parents by aevan · · Score: 1

      Heh, I'm not of the mind you 24/7 hover the child...it'll annoy the brat, it'll annoy yourself, and stuff DOES need to be done... but I know people who just hand their brats (at 4 and 7) tablets, and tell them to 'go be quiet in another room'...and that's the extent of most the kids' days.

      Karmic hilarity hit with the shitstorm of 'omg they were watching porn [on youtube no less] for the last few months'... with the tirade on THAT interrupted with the younger walking in, parrot racist phrases like some Goatee-universe Olsen twin...

      *still not sure why kids that young would even WATCH porn, but eh, it happened

    5. Re:Simple guidelines for parents by Kokuyo · · Score: 4, Insightful

      From an outside perspective, that sounds rather funny. ;)

      We park our kids in front of the TV as well. They're three and a half. We let them watch Ultimate Spiderman, X-Men, The Last Airbender (and yes, we know that those are a bit on the heavy side for their age but they cope well) but also My Little Pony, Wickie (if that is even known around your parts) and Shaun the Sheep.

      We don't let them watch anything we haven't or wouldn't watch (so no mindnumbing idiocy like Teletubbies) and when introducing them to things not meant for their age, we keep an eye on them until we're sure they can deal with the content.

      Their language skills aren't as far as some other kids their age I've seen when it comes to proficiency in the language... but next to twin, they also not only speak and understand their mother tongue but English as well.

      IMO, children need to be exposed to things in order to learn. They understand that there are not so nice people and they understand that death exists. They're no worse for having that knowledge.

    6. Re:Simple guidelines for parents by AmiMoJo · · Score: 1

      I was watching a video of GrandPooBear, a streamer on Twitch. Someone in his chat mentioned that they entertain their baby with his streams, to which his response was "don't blame me if his first word is twot-bucket".

      I'm not sure what a twot-bucket is exactly, but from context I gather that this would be an undesirable outcome.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    7. Re: Simple guidelines for parents by sherriw · · Score: 1

      It IS YouTube's job.... the second the added the 'Kids' label. That gives them a level of responsibility much greater than just a 13 & older general video service.

    8. Re:Simple guidelines for parents by Scarletdown · · Score: 2

      Now I am picturing a new adventure of Letterman (if anyone here is old enough to remember the original Electric Company).

      In this one, the evil Spellbinder takes note of a hipster douche sporting a goatee. And with a wave of his magic wand, our villain changes the first e into an s, causing the douche to now be sporting a goatse.

      And then faster than a rolling O, stronger than silent e, able to leap capital T in a single bound; it's a word, it's a plan, it's Letterman!!! But instead of damaging yet another varsity sweater to change things back, he finds the situation fucking hilarious, and lets the villain win this one for once.

      --
      This space unintentionally left blank.
  5. Cause for random playlist strikes? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    > Tougher application of Community Guidelines and faster enforcement through technology

    I wonder if that's the cause behind the mass community-strikes against seemingly random playlists a few days ago.

    They're trying to cram so much into their censorship bots that everything triggers some rule. Every month they add more things to filter, and every month some outrage journalist finds more stuff to be offended by.

  6. Seems messed up. by dicobalt · · Score: 1

    Trust the corporations to protect your children from things that might make them think.

    1. Re:Seems messed up. by zifn4b · · Score: 1

      Trust the corporations to protect your children from things that might make them think.

      It's the parents' responsibility. If the parents aren't up to the task they should be sterilized.

      --
      We'll make great pets
  7. This leaves them utterly unprepared for reality! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Kids should not live in a deluded distorted reality, never learning to handle actual reality!

    It's like those kids who played computer games all their lives, where only the “fun” parts of serial murder are shown, and all the suffering and horror and consequences of real-world murder are hidden away because they are horrifying.
    And then they get into real combat ... or really just any kind of out-of-the-ordinary interaction in real life ... and they completely collapse, unable to handle any of it, let alone in a grown-up way
    !
    They are supposed to be horrifying! People are supposed to shy away from those things!

    Why do idiots always stifle their children's maturity and call it "protecting them"?
    Why not teach them, to protect themselves!?
    You know. That state called maturity.

  8. Thank God by rsilvergun · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I've been waiting years for somebody to put a stop to Pew di Pie. At last, our long national nightmare is over...

    --
    Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
    1. Re:Thank God by Opportunist · · Score: 1

      The price paid was too high, though.

      Now YouTube is the same boring, bland mix of idiotic home videos and worthless whitewashed commentary TV has become. Anything that could remotely be controversial or an invitation for a debate is gone.

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
    2. Re:Thank God by Opportunist · · Score: 1

      So far the theory.

      What this means, though, is that the only ones that can continue to make videos (unless they're rich or have some independent source of income) are those that get paid to make those videos by "supporters". Well, take a wild guess where this is heading.

      Because if you want me to support you, you better broadcast a message that I like!

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
    3. Re:Thank God by luther349 · · Score: 1

      yea everything is censerd now youtube is a bunch of people talking to themselves on camera and acting like thats Hollywood level content and dont forget to donate and go to my pateron.

    4. Re:Thank God by swillden · · Score: 1

      So far the theory.

      What this means, though, is that the only ones that can continue to make videos (unless they're rich or have some independent source of income) are those that get paid to make those videos by "supporters".

      In other words, back to reality as it has always been. Making and distributing content costs money. These days, it costs less than it ever has before, but it's still not free. Actually, YouTube is still offering to do the distribution part for free, even for content that no advertiser wishes to support. That's a pretty incredible deal. You can broadcast video to the entire world, as much as you want, for nothing. YouTube will even store your video and serve it on demand, at no cost whatsoever to you.

      Granted, this incredible deal isn't quite as incredible as the one where YouTube would actually pay you, even though it meant risking pissing off YouTube's customers (the advertisers), and therefore costing YouTube money on top of what they paid you, and spent to distribute your content. That deal was literally too good to be true. And once advertisers started to figure it out and the potential cost became real, YouTube realized they had to stop offering that too-good-to-be-true deal.

      So now they won't pay you, they'll only serve your video on demand to anyone, for free. Oh, and they'll also provide you with analytics about how much your videos are watched, and when, and they'll notify your viewers of new content you make, and they'll provide a mechanism people can use to find your videos. For free.

      Because if you want me to support you, you better broadcast a message that I like!

      How different is that from:

      Because if you want me to watch you, you better broadcast a message that I like!

      Or:

      Because if you want me to pay you to broadcast, you better broadcast a message that I like!

      Those have always been true, and will always be true. If you want people to watch, you'd better make something they like. And if you want to be paid for it, you'd better make something someone is willing to pay you to broadcast.

      This is just reality reasserting itself after a brief foray into insanity. Well, arguably the current deal (we'll deliver your content to the world for free, plus the other goodies) is also a little insane.

      --
      Note to ACs: I usually delete AC replies without reading them. If you want to talk to me, log in.
    5. Re:Thank God by Opportunist · · Score: 1

      The difference is the threshold. People are far easier convinced to give you time (i.e. watch your junk and the ads it comes with) than money.

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
    6. Re:Thank God by Opportunist · · Score: 1

      The sad part is that it is Hollywood level content. With fewer explosions, I give you that.

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
  9. bs call by AndyKron · · Score: 1

    How does removing ads protect anybody? I call BS on YT once again.

  10. Re:COAL IS CLEAN ENERY by Opportunist · · Score: 1

    I've tried, but pound for pound, coal simply has the higher calorific value.

    --
    We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
  11. Re:This leaves them utterly unprepared for reality by Opportunist · · Score: 1

    Because our economy doesn't need responsible adults but adult kids with credit cards that are legally fully responsible for their irresponsibility.

    --
    We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
  12. That could be solved SO easily by Opportunist · · Score: 1

    If this was about advertisers being worried they might get associated with "bad" videos, the solution is very trivial: Postpone the payout of any money to content creators by, say, a month. Enough time that a lot of viewers would complain about it being inappropriate for kids, and you have plenty of time not only to remove the video but also yank the account (along with not paying a dime).

    After no more than 2 months, no accounts trying to lure kids for financial gains will exist anymore.

    What's left after this is the trolls who do it for shits and giggles and not money. For them, the easy solution is to not offer any videos from new content creators to kids in their "trending" or "related" bar so they'd have to go out of their way to see it, but show it to parents who can sign up for something like this. You think you won't find enough helicopter parents with nothing better to do than to policy what all kids should or should not see? Think again.

    What they deem appropriate can then go on to kids' trending/related/recommended feed, the rest gets shadowbanned from kids' accounts and gets only shown to adults with ... odd tastes.

    --
    We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
  13. As a parent.... by sherriw · · Score: 1

    Google's new changes for YouTube are barely lip-service to the problem. It's a PR move, on what is a disturbing & scary problem.

    While I won't let my sons (2, 4 & 6) anywhere near YouTube... I have many parent friends who let their children browse YouTube Kids basically unattended. While this is clearly not a good idea, the fact remains that overworked, exhausted parents are going to do this. That videos of Peppa Pig eating her father & drinking bleach, and other horrid 'cartoons' are slipping past automated filters, the service needs to remove the 'kids' label and only re-open when human reviewed videos replace them. A-la Netflix Kids, etc.

    That Google won't even prevent the 'related videos' bar from sending kids down the rabbit hole, is also infuriating.

    I have friends who, upon reading this news, scanned their child's history only to find videos of cartoon favourites sexually assaulting eachother. Wth Google - shut it down!

    And to say parents should be previewing each & every video - I agree... but they don't. Parents in today's dual-income, cash-strapped economy are at an exhausted extreme.

  14. As long as they get rid of nasty cartoons. by Dare978Devil · · Score: 1

    My kids love Youtube. When they were younger, they would watch stuff like the video of the duck and the lemonade stand. As soon as one got popular, more would show up along the same lines, often with swear words, death of the main character, or sexual acts. I am all for parody, but the knock-offs were clearly made by teenagers who thought it was hilarious that young children would think it was a new cartoon of their favourite character only to see them impaled by a pole. As a result, no more youtube until they were teenagers. Youtube, it's about time.

  15. Wash, Rinse, Repeat by alternative_right · · Score: 1

    The Public: Twitter seems full of bullies, jihadis, pedophiles, and trolls.

    YouTube: Great! We'll crack down on Right-wing content!

    --
    Alternative Right.
    1. Re:Wash, Rinse, Repeat by Entropius · · Score: 1

      I mean, the modern American Right has a lot of bullies, pedophiles, and trolls in it, and the jihadis just don't call themselves that.

  16. What do you mean by rsilvergun · · Score: 1

    there's still stuff like this. 11 years and counting.

    --
    Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
  17. Wrong by HalAtWork · · Score: 1

    You need humans to watch videos, similar to censors that vet TV content. They want to automate all this and people just find ways to get through, just like they do with captchas and spam filters of any kind.

    --
    Twinstiq, game news
  18. Blocking inappropriate comments on videos... by Trax3001BBS · · Score: 1

    Exactly who's call is this? And will it be regionally implemented.

    1. Re:Blocking inappropriate comments on videos... by SuricouRaven · · Score: 1

      It'll be automated, of course. This is google, so I'd expect something a bit more sophisticated than a bad-word-list, but similar in concept.

  19. I have a problem with Youtube's post by Trax3001BBS · · Score: 1

    I had to disable my HOSTS file to view the page. Too much hassle to find the sites involved, but data collection most likely. While proporting to be a protection move for the under aged, it's but one step closer to taking away my parental rights of what I allow or block.

    I'm also waiting to see if this logging in is to be a rule rather than an option. I don't log into Youtube unless I have a real need. If an inappropriate call on a video displays, I'm told I have to log in, at which point that video isn't that important to me; and I move on.

  20. Re:COAL IS CLEAN ENERY by Trax3001BBS · · Score: 1

    Won't someone think of the minors?

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

  21. Great New Idea! by Shogun37 · · Score: 1

    Two. Simple. Words. "Parental Involvement." So long as people who should never be allowed NEAR children, let alone "raise" any, depend on technology to raise their kids, this will be ineffective.