Disney pulls YouTube ads over predators
NESTLÉ and Disney have pulled their adverts from YouTube after it emerged that paedophiles are using the Google-owned platform to prey on young girls.
Epic, the computer games company behind Fortnite, and health food brand Dr Oetker also removed their ads from the site.
They took action after it was revealed predators are using the site to watch scantily clad children – usually pre-pubescent girls – performing on camera.
Children are posting innocent videos of themselves doing gymnastics or dance routines, only for paedophiles to hijack them and post sexual comments below. They often declare what they would like to do to the children, or ask them directly to perform sex acts. They also use the comments section as a message board, where they share details of private messaging groups where they can communicate undetected.
They direct each other to what they see as the most titillating moments on the videos, posting ‘timestamps’ that are automatically turned into links, so others can see these moments without watching the full videos.
The scale of the problem has been laid bare by YouTuber Matt Watson, who has lambasted Google for profiting from a ‘soft core paedophilia ring’.
YouTube makes money from the activity by selling advertising space next to the hijacked videos. YouTube typically hands a slice of the revenues from these ads to the person who posted the video, while the rest helps to inflate Google’s own profits.
In 2017, Google had to quell another advertising revolt by promising brands it would disable comments on videos it identified as of potential interest to predators. It pledged to shut down the accounts that made the sexual comments. However, yesterday it was clear the problem is still rife. One video seen by the Mail purported to show a girl aged around ten, with cerebral palsy, getting a medical massage in her underwear. Below the film, which has been watched two million times since it was posted last summer, dozens of users have made sexual comments.
Yesterday, YouTube insisted it has ‘clear policies’ banning this ‘abhorrent’ material and said it has stepped up its crackdown. It said it has disabled comments on tens of millions of videos featuring minors, reviewed and deleted inappropriate comments from other videos, and closed 400 user accounts.