Youtube videos showed children how to buy drugs on the dark web
YOUTUBE has been hosting videos showing how to buy drugs on the dark web, an investigation by The Daily Telegraph has found.
Channels on the site had a series of clips providing step-by-step guides for accessing hidden online drug markets, which were showed offering cocaine, MDMA and cannabis.
A number of the videos also showed adverts that were generating revenue for Youtube. However, the company said the ads had made small amounts, with one video earning less than $5 (£3.80).
Most of the guide videos, one of which had been viewed more than 400,000 times, were not age-protected, meaning they were available for children and teenagers to watch.
The National Crime Agency, which leads UK operations targeting the online drugs trade, condemned the videos. A spokesman for the agency said: “It is clear that online platforms which host, and often make a profit out of, videos which signpost to illegal activity on the dark web need to do more to identify and remove them.”
Youtube has since removed the videos flagged by The Telegraph and banned one of the channels.
A spokesman for Youtube said: “Youtube’s Community Guidelines prohibit any content encouraging dangerous or illegal activities, this includes content promoting the sale of drugs. We routinely remove videos flagged by our community that violate those policies.” The company added that the channels who posted the videos had not received any ad revenue.
One of the Youtube tutorial videos seen by The Telegraph said it was being posted “for educational purposes only”. Although viewers were then warned that the author “doesn’t take responsibility for any legal problems” they could find themselves in.
The clip gave a 12-minute how-to guide to finding a drug market and then buying drugs and included a direct link to one of the marketplaces.
The tutorial ended saying: “There you guys go, this is literally how to purchase drugs on the black market.”
The dark web is a network of encrypted websites that cannot be accessed with normal internet browsers. Cryptocurrencies have allowed lawless online marketplaces to develop in this anonymous area of the internet, selling anything from illicit drugs to guns.
Research released by the Australian Institute of Criminology earlier this year found the UK was the second largest seller of dark-web drugs globally, after the US, and was the largest seller of cocaine.
Addaction, the drug addiction charity, warned that drugs bought on the dark web tended to have a stronger purity, which increased the chance of people overdosing.