YouTube’s crackdown on pedophilia could create problems for content creators
YouTube has announced it will ban comments on almost all videos featuring minors, in a radical move designed to appease parents and advertisers concerned about pedophiles using the platform to communicate.The decision, announced Thursday, comes after several major advertisers — including Disney, Nestlé, McDonald’s, AT&T, and Epic Games — pulled or temporarily paused their ad buys on the platform after a vlogger highlighted how pedophiles are seeping into the comments sections of videos. YouTube had already removed 400 channels and erased tens of millions of comments on videos that could be subject to predatory behavior, but now it’s going one step further.
Most people have welcomed YouTube’s increased efforts to boost child safety, but experts claim that the company is simply reacting to public outcry and that the “quick fix” decision has more to do with protecting its bottom line than protecting children. Vloggers on the platform, especially ones who post family content, could also be penalized by the platform’s algorithm without the ability to engage with viewers in a comments section.
“It has taken a concerted public and media campaign to get YouTube to act, as these actions should have come much earlier,” Sonia Livingstone, a professor of social psychology at London School of Economics, told VICE News. “It too often seems that it isn’t until YouTube’s revenues are affected that they really respond, despite the evident public concern in recent months.”
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