Now YouTube cashes in on clips viewed by paedophiles
YOUTUBE has been providing a platform for paedophiles to watch videos of children – while raking in money from advertising.
Major firms yesterday pulled their adverts from the video-sharing website after it emerged thousands of predators are writing vile sexual comments beneath clips of children in leotards or nightwear.
Even volunteers working for Google, which owns YouTube, who look out for problem content, criticised the web giant for its failure to clean up the site. One said its ‘inaction is resulting in the sexual exploitation of more children every day’.
The paedophile revelations come after Google was accused of profiting from extremism due to hate videos appearing on YouTube.
The site, which shows adverts before videos play, hands a slice of the income from these commercials to the person who posted the video, while Google gets the rest.
Yet the firm has failed to get to grips with inappropriate content.
Many of the child videos appear to have been posted innocently by youngsters – usually pre-pubescent girls – showing off gymnastics routines or dancing in their nightwear. But once online, the clips are hijacked by paedophiles who leave disgusting comments beneath.
One video, watched nearly 2.6million times, featured a girl aged around eight performing a gym routine in a leotard. Dozens of users made explicit sexual remarks including that they wanted to have sex with her.
In another video, viewed around 4.5million times, a young gymnast showed off her leotards. Comments included asking her if she is wearing underwear, saying she is ‘sexy’ and asking her to film herself putting the leotard on. Tellingly, other viewers said they only came across the video because Google recommended it to them after they watched clips about paedophilia.
Google uses complex algorithms to predict what people want to watch based on their viewing history – suggesting these videos are standard viewing for predators.
A string of brands including Mars, Lidl, Adidas, Cadbury and estate agent Marsh and Parsons boycotted Google as it emerged they may have inadvertently funded videos through their adverts appearing alongside them. David Brown, CEO of Marsh and Parsons, said they were ‘deeply concerned’ by this and suspended their advertising ‘with immediate effect’.
Google has refused to hire staff to root out problem content and instead relies on around 200 to 250 volunteer individuals and organisations to monitor YouTube.
One told The Times: ‘YouTube do not care about the safety of children. They only care about their image. Since August, we’ve reported over 12,000 predators to YouTube. There is far too much for a few volunteers to handle – there are at least 50,000 active predators [on the site]. YouTube know the scale and their inaction is resulting in the sexual exploitation of more children every day.’
The source said just three of Google’s unpaid volunteers have been tasked with looking for inappropriate child content.
Yesterday, the NSPCC, also part of the monitoring programme, warned Google must be policed by an independent regulator.
Google’s UK chief Ronan Harris admitted the paedophile comments are ‘wholly unacceptable’ and that it has caused ‘nervousness’ amongst advertisers.
YouTube said it is working to improve its controls and that this week alone it has ‘shut down hundreds of accounts identified as making predatory comments’.
ISBA, the trade body for British advertisers, has summoned Google bosses to an urgent meeting next week to demand the web giant do more to tackle the problem.