Thanks Google! -- YouTube Cracks Down on Dangerous Videos
https://lauren.vortex.com/2019/01/16/thanks-google-youtube-cracks-down-on-dangerous-videos
When I feel that Google is making policy mistakes, I don't hesitate to
call them out as appropriate. I don't enjoy doing this, but my goal is
to help Google be better, not to see a great company becoming less so.
On the other hand, I much enjoy congratulating Google when they make
important policy improvements -- and yeah, it's nice when this
involves an area where I've long been urging such changes.
So I'm very pleased by Google's newly announced changes to YouTube
acceptable content rules, to significantly crack down on dangerous
prank and dare/challenge videos on YouTube.
I've written about my concerns in this area many times, for example in
"YouTube's Dangerous and Sickening Cesspool of 'Prank' and 'Dare'
Videos"
(
https://lauren.vortex.com/2017/05/04/youtubes-dangerous-and-sickening-cesspool-of-prank-and-dare-videos
),
approaching two years ago.
I am not unsympathetic to Google's philosophical and practical
preferences for a "very light touch" when it comes to excluding
specific types of content from their YouTube platform. In a perfect
world, if all video creators behaved responsibly in the first place,
we likely wouldn't be facing these kinds of challenges at all. But of
course, the reality is that irresponsible creators of all sorts
permeate vast swaths of the Internet ecosystem.
The new YouTube "Policies on harmful or dangerous Content"
( https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/2801964 ), should in theory
go a long way toward appropriately addressing the kinds of concerns
that I and others have expressed about dangerously inappropriate
videos on YouTube.
Whether the new rules will actually have the desired positive effects
will of course depend on how rigorously Google enforces these rules,
and in particular whether that enforcement is evenhanded -- meaning
that large YouTube channels generating significant revenue are subject
to the same serious enforcement actions as much smaller channels.
Time will tell in this regard. But today, as someone who very much
loves YouTube and who considers YouTube to be an irreplaceable aspect
of my daily life, I want to thank Google for these positive steps
toward making YouTube even better for us all. Kudos to the teams!
- - -
Request invite to my new private discussion forum: g-forum-requ...@vortex.com
--Lauren--
Lauren Weinstein (lau...@vortex.com): https://www.vortex.com/lauren
Lauren's Blog: https://lauren.vortex.com
Founder: Network Neutrality Squad: https://www.nnsquad.org
PRIVACY Forum: https://www.vortex.com/privacy-info
Co-Founder: People For Internet Responsibility: https://www.pfir.org/pfir-info
Member: ACM Committee on Computers and Public Policy
Google+: https://google.com/+LaurenWeinstein
Twitter: https://twitter.com/laurenweinstein
Tel: +1 (818) 225-2800
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