YouTube Disables Comments on Videos with Minors

cageymaru

cageymaru

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YouTube has responded to a report that the company allows child predators to comment and socialize in the comments section of videos that feature minors. YouTube has taken the corrective action of disabling the comments section of tens of millions of videos that feature young minors. Some videos of older minors who are at risk of attracting predatory behavior will have their comments section disabled also.

A small number of creators will be able to keep comments enabled on these types of videos. These channels will be required to actively moderate their comments, beyond just using standard moderation tools, and demonstrate a low risk of predatory behavior. YouTube will work directly with those channels to fine tune the company's ability to catch violative comments. YouTube fast-tracked the development of a more effective classifier that is able to catch twice as many predatory comments as before.

No form of content that endangers minors is acceptable on YouTube, which is why we have terminated certain channels that attempt to endanger children in any way. Videos encouraging harmful and dangerous challenges targeting any audience are also clearly against our policies. We will continue to take action when creators violate our policies in ways that blatantly harm the broader user and creator community. Please continue to flag these to us.
 
Surprised it took this long, as there's no other workable solution. It's a shame that yet again we must cater to the shittiest common denominator, but on the other hand, pretty much every YT comment section would be better if it wasn't there.
 
nightanole said:
True, but lots of comments equals lots of "promoted" or "recommended". If you have a dead comment section, and never interact with your fans via the comment section, you will have a dead channel.
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Yup they want engagement "which color is your favorite? Post it in the comments!"
 
Master_shake_ said:
who the fuck looks at youtube comments?

the people who make the fucking videos don't even look at them.
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That was the problem. No one was looking and people were linking timestamps to kids doing things that put them in positions that creeps considered to be sexual, and also linking to child porn sites, so it is was the worst. Honestly, just don't put your kids on YouTube.
 
I feel like I've become the defender of YT here, at least where this child protection stuff is concerned. A comment is just a comment, disgusting as it might be, but it is important to signal that such behavior towards children will not be tolerated and allowed to become normalized.

And financially speaking, YT has no choice. It isn't a profitable venture as is, so they cannot afford to allow all these huge advertisers to jump ship. So their actions are both moral and pragmatic.
 
Nicepants42 said:
Surprised it took this long, as there's no other workable solution. It's a shame that yet again we must cater to the shittiest common denominator, but on the other hand, pretty much every YT comment section would be better if it wasn't there.
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They were only going to do something about it when forced by advertisers, just like every other crackdown.

It only took this long because the guy who did the video on what was going on (exposing it all) had his post on Reddit go viral and the popularity reached the main media and advertisers. Had he not have done that video, it'd still be happening.
 
Instead of disabling all comments couldn't they disable posting of timestamps and outside links in comments and adding some words to the language filters?
 
Shmee said:
That was the problem. No one was looking and people were linking timestamps to kids doing things that put them in positions that creeps considered to be sexual, and also linking to child porn sites, so it is was the worst. Honestly, just don't put your kids on YouTube.
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Kids have been putting themselves on Youtube since the beginning without parental supervision and always will until the internet gets locked down with government IDs or credit cards for everything. If convincing every parent to keep a better eye on their children's behavior were possible, surely we would have seen a working example of that in action somewhere. You're right that nobody was looking. Nobody was actively monitoring these comments as far as I know!

Smashing Young Man said:
I feel like I've become the defender of YT here, at least where this child protection stuff is concerned. A comment is just a comment, disgusting as it might be, but it is important to signal that such behavior towards children will not be tolerated and allowed to become normalized.
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A comment is normalization in itself. Anyone sick enough to be on the edge of looking for this material is going to see those comments as justification (other people are doing it too, can't be that bad right?).
 
cageymaru said:
YouTube has responded to a report that the company allows child predators to comment and socialize in the comments section of videos that feature minors. YouTube has taken the corrective action of disabling the comments section of tens of millions of videos that feature young minors. Some videos of older minors who are at risk of attracting predatory behavior will have their comments section disabled also.

A small number of creators will be able to keep comments enabled on these types of videos. These channels will be required to actively moderate their comments, beyond just using standard moderation tools, and demonstrate a low risk of predatory behavior. YouTube will work directly with those channels to fine tune the company's ability to catch violative comments. YouTube fast-tracked the development of a more effective classifier that is able to catch twice as many predatory comments as before.

No form of content that endangers minors is acceptable on YouTube, which is why we have terminated certain channels that attempt to endanger children in any way. Videos encouraging harmful and dangerous challenges targeting any audience are also clearly against our policies. We will continue to take action when creators violate our policies in ways that blatantly harm the broader user and creator community. Please continue to flag these to us.
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This could destroy some channels such as what's inside and off the ranch (demolition ranch second Chanel) Both channels feature their children. These channels obviously keep track of their kids and supervise them constantly but this will in the end hit these channels and many like them.
 
Spidey329 said:
They were only going to do something about it when forced by advertisers, just like every other crackdown.

It only took this long because the guy who did the video on what was going on (exposing it all) had his post on Reddit go viral and the popularity reached the main media and advertisers. Had he not have done that video, it'd still be happening.
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Agreed. When I said "this long", I was referring to the amount of time that passed since that video, (and the number of advertisers that dropped).
 
novaflare said:
This could destroy some channels such as what's inside and off the ranch (demolition ranch second Chanel) Both channels feature their children. These channels obviously keep track of their kids and supervise them constantly but this will in the end hit these channels and many like them.
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I wonder what it'll do to anime channels, considering the stuff you see on anime is probably more pedo bait than anything you find from children videos on YouTube. Ever watch Rising of the Shield Hero? This is Filo, a one month old bird girl. YouTube is going to have a field day with anime.

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Master_shake_ said:
who the fuck looks at youtube comments?

the people who make the fucking videos don't even look at them.
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Who the fuck looks at YouTube at all?

I'd prefer it if they just shut the entire site down :p

The world would instantly become a better place...
 
B770 said:
youtube is a joke now, it turned into a modern Mtv...started out great and them went to shit.
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Yep. Back when it was just regular people sharing short little unedited clips with each other it was great!

Now that every goddamned moron with a webcam thinks they are going to be the next "YouTube star" whatever the hell that is, you might as well just burn the entire thing.

It all started to go down hill the moment YouTube started sharing revenue with the people who post the videos. If they just undid that one change across the board, it might actually go back to being a useful tool again!

Essentially, demonetize ALL content, and you'll get rid of the "aspiring celebrities".
 
Youtube has more problems: https://abcnews.go.com/US/youtube-k...nstructions-removed-reports/story?id=61326717

Multiple videos on Youtube Kids app surfaced showing regular kids videos and in the middle of it cut to a character telling the kids to slit their wrists and kill themselves. I saw one yesterday, a Peppa Pig episode, reported it and it's gone today. No more youtube for my kids.

The scum that does this need to be drawn and quartered.
 
laowhy86 got disabled comments too. Didn't even know he has own kids on a few of his videos.

wtf? Even the 'recommended column' of laowhy's vids on ADV is gone.

can we get comments for man-child gamers disabled too , plz?
 
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Smashing Young Man said:
I feel like I've become the defender of YT here, at least where this child protection stuff is concerned. A comment is just a comment, disgusting as it might be, but it is important to signal that such behavior towards children will not be tolerated and allowed to become normalized.

And financially speaking, YT has no choice. It isn't a profitable venture as is, so they cannot afford to allow all these huge advertisers to jump ship. So their actions are both moral and pragmatic.
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they have staff watching and demonetizing vids of certain platforms

they can do the same for this recently brought up issue. (but an issue which has been going on for a long time, and which youtube has been removing comments sections for.)

rather than utilizing their staff , they just ban everything and get other completely unrelated channels censored too. ( re my post before this )
 
Zarathustra[H] said:
Yep. Back when it was just regular people sharing short little unedited clips with each other it was great!

Now that every goddamned moron with a webcam thinks they are going to be the next "YouTube star" whatever the hell that is, you might as well just burn the entire thing.

It all started to go down hill the moment YouTube started sharing revenue with the people who post the videos. If they just undid that one change across the board, it might actually go back to being a useful tool again!

Essentially, demonetize ALL content, and you'll get rid of the "aspiring celebrities".
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Or... just ignore the wanna-be celebs and watch the stuff that you want to watch? Not sure how that affects the other content.
 
Majinhoju said:
I don't think I've ever seen a pleasant comment section on Youtube on any video. It's a troll haven.
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I watch a number of woodworking/woodturning/log slabbing/forestry/mixed-media art/acrylic paint pouring/resin art/ring making videos/software tutorials/knife making tutorials/blacksmithing vids/metal forging videos that have very helpful and positive comment sections.
If I had to venture a guess, I'd say most comment sections for videos on YT are just fine.

I wouldn't expect any political channel or topic to have a civil comment section because people are generally unable to have civil discussions about politcs or politically-charged topics in person. The internet just dials that idiocy to 11.
I wouldn't expect any gaming channel to have a civil comment section because I've spent more than 3 seconds playing online games.
I wouldn't expect any PC hardware or game console related channel to have a civil comment section because retards and e-peen.
 
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MRAB54 said:
Youtube has more problems: https://abcnews.go.com/US/youtube-k...nstructions-removed-reports/story?id=61326717

Multiple videos on Youtube Kids app surfaced showing regular kids videos and in the middle of it cut to a character telling the kids to slit their wrists and kill themselves. I saw one yesterday, a Peppa Pig episode, reported it and it's gone today. No more youtube for my kids.

The scum that does this need to be drawn and quartered.
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people hyping a hoax and I got caught up in it at work...
https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/how-momo-global-social-media-hoax-about-paranormal-threat-kids-n977961
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2019/feb/28/schools-police-and-media-told-to-stop-promoting-momo-hoax
 
This has its pros and cons. As mentioned above, pedos could leave timestamps for particularly appealing scenes. I have no clue how often that happens. But I do know that some channels with minors as the main participant rely heavily on comments. For instance. My daughter watches a lot of Evan Tube. And one thing you will often see at the end of a lot of their videos is "Have a suggestion? Leave one in the comment section below." So lack of viewer feedback will have a detrimental effect on many videos and channels.
A potential workaround could be to create a mule video in which at the end of each video, they say that to leave a comment follow this youtube link and leave a comment with the video you are commenting about. Complex though. Another option would be an opt-out/in feature in which the parent/guardian of the minor in the video could opt-in to enable commenting. Of course that has its own issues too with verification.

Where is that line drawn when you hear "think of the children?"
 
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