Lords tell YouTube to filter out violence

YOUTUBE and other web giants should vet their content to avoid adverts appearing alongside extremist propaganda or gang violence, a Lords committee report has said.

The arrangement of the adverts is putting the reputation of British brands at risk, the House of Lords communications committee warned.

The Mail yesterday found videos of gangs promoting stabbing on Google- owned YouTube, alongside adverts for BT and Netflix. A rap song accompanied by a BT advert contained the lyrics: ‘My gang don’t play fair – armed and dangerous... You’ll squirt [blood], red shirt.’

MP Stephen Doughty, who sits on the home affairs select committee, said: ‘It is clear that the Wild West of online content is urgently in need of tougher regulation and standards.’

Lord Gilbert of Panteg, chairman of the communications committee, yesterday warned that the digital advertising market had become ‘notoriously murky’. He said: ‘Businesses which buy advertising services don’t know how their money is being spent, whether their advertising is being displayed next to content which is obscene or which supports terrorism.’

A YouTube spokesman said: ‘We do not allow videos that incite violence, and we’ll remove any such content.

‘Music videos of different genres are allowed on YouTube and able to run ads where they don’t breach our policies.’