Yesterday, if you were to search ‘how to have’ on YouTube, the top autocomplete result would have made you sick to your stomach: ‘how to have s*x with children’.
The other top results were other variations on the same disturbing phrase, all of which used an asterisk, most likely in an attempt to avoid YouTube’s filters for words such as ‘sex’. According to the Guardian, experts surmise that trolls strategically used the censored term ‘s*x’ in order to game the Google-owned website’s algorithm and humiliate the video platform.
“Earlier today our teams were alerted to this profoundly disturbing autocomplete result and we worked to quickly remove it as soon as we were made aware,” a YouTube spokeswoman said to the Guardian, “We are investigating this matter to determine what was behind the appearance of this autocompletion.”
This comes after the revelation that low-budget production companies are making violent and graphic videos featuring beloved children’s characters like Peppa Pig in order to get easy clicks and advertising. Parents expressed concern after such videos made their way onto YouTube Kids, which is an app meant to keep content friendly for our little ones.
YouTube experienced another child safety-related crisis just a few days ago when large businesses, including Lidl, Mars, Cadbury, and Adidas, pulled their advertising from the website when it came to light that their ads were playing before content exploited by paedophiles.
According to the BBC, there could be up to 100,000 predatory YouTube accounts evading the website’s safety mechanisms and making inappropriate comments on videos of children. The comments left by these users were usually either sexually explicit in nature or encouraged children in videos to engage in sexual acts. Some of these accounts even uploaded videos of children.
In response to the information about indecent comments, Johanna Wright, vice-president of product management at YouTube, told the Guardian, “We’re wholly committed to addressing these issues and will continue to invest the engineering and human resources needed to get it right. As a parent and as a leader in this organisation, I’m determined that we do.”
YouTube reports that they have removed thousands of videos and over 50 YouTube channel accounts that feature children, in an attempt to toughen their standards on kid-related content.
What do you think of YouTube's actions? How do you keep your kids safe on the Internet, mums?
