What has online video come to?
There is now a big problem on the YouTube platform and this is not the only time we have seen this. YouTube has been going through some tough times when it comes to censoring and taking down content that would be harmful for general users. Mostly kids under the age of 12. In the past there were videos geared towards kids that would be sexually suggestive while having the people acting in the video be dressed up as beloved cartoon characters. And for the longest time YouTube was doing nothing about it. This went on for two years and YouTube finally took the videos down. But now we have another problem on our hands.
The problem now is comments.
In a recent article from the NY Times article, it talks about how now they are disabling all comments on minor owned YouTube channels. now your probably wondering, why would they do this its just kids having fun and what if their friends want to comment on a recent video? Right now YouTube is not concerned with that. The real threat right now is pedophiles writing terrible things in the comment sections of some videos.
So, now obviously what they had to do was disable comments on everybody's channel, only if you are under a certain age on YouTube. Which I find Weird because Google won’t even allow you to create an account until you are 13. So, now we know that a lot of these channels are lying about their age to be able to post content. But, that’s not what we are going to talk about today.
After looking at what YouTube has let through the cracks and how it has taken so long for things like this to be fixed. How is this looked upon, and how does this impact the field of Mass Communications?
When we look at the four areas of Mass Communication they all play a role in this situation.
Starting with advertising on YouTube. YouTube has a certain algorithm that recommends you certain videos that might interest you. So, if you think about it, it is actually YouTube's fault for leading these people to more of the same content. Obviously broadcasting plays a big part in this whole situation. Broadcasting is the main reason why these video are being put up on the site, and should have some kind of filtering and better security when it comes to minors.
Next is journalism. Thank god for the NY Times picking up this story and letting as many people know what the problem is and how YouTube is fixing it. Most of the time YouTube does something and lest nobody know whats going on. Like the Ad-pocalypse back in 2017. And lastly is PR. YouTube does not have a great track record of having great PR campaigns. Going back to the Ad-pocalypse and how many people were losing pay and viewers because of it. and again the sexual content being directed towards kids.
There are a few things to take away from this. The big one mainly is YouTube taking care of problems like this before they get wide spread. I also hope that more news sites like the NY Times take this time to look more into problems like this in the future. YouTube is a great place to get lost in creative ideas and learn anything you want. It is not a site for predators and any acts of that sort.
Thank god for the NY Times picking up this story and letting as many people know what the problem is and how YouTube is fixing it. Most of the time YouTube does something and lest nobody know whats going on. Like the Ad-pocalypse back in 2017