On Feb. 17, a bombshell video posted by YouTube user MattsWhatItIs accused the website of facilitating the exploitation of children through a glitch in the algorithm that recommends videos to its users.
In the video, MattsWhatItIs shows that not only has this disturbing content involving children not been taken down for breaking community guidelines, but that the videos also contain ads. With ads, channels are making money for disgusting content instead of being punished.
The lack of response from YouTube since the posting of this video, which now has over 1 million views, is frankly disturbing. With accusations as dire as these and the amount of evidence MattsWhatItIs presents, many would believe that the website would have released some kind of response by now.
This is not the first time YouTube has come under fire for something like this. In November 2017, similar accusations came from many media sources that targeted much larger “child-friendly” channels, and the resulting fallout caused many of the companies that sponsored ads on YouTube to cancel their deals, costing the website plenty of money. The videos in question, targeted mostly at children with characters such as Spiderman and Elsa from Frozen, contained outright explicit situations.
Although advertisers removed themselves from the situation, YouTube’s response was lacking. Many of the channels were not severely punished other than losing their source of revenue. With a similar situation popping up now, the fear of YouTube not resolving this problem while they can is understandably high.
For many frequenters of the site, YouTube is proving to be an even more controversial platform to host their content. The lack of swift response to criticism, on top of further controversial decisions on revoking the ad revenue of seemingly innocuous content, is helping to stoke fires of resentment in the community that have been brewing now for some time.
At this moment, YouTube stands at a crossroad it shouldn’t have to be standing at in the first place. The website has two options: either address this problem directly and satisfy cries for justice that have been ringing since late 2017, or once again sweep this under the rug and quietly take small measures to prevent something so horrifyingly widespread on their monolith of a website. This glitch is a blow to the reputation of YouTube, but it is an affront to human decency to allow this despicable practice to continue.
Jack Gleckler is a freshman studying journalism at Ohio University. Please note that the views and opinions of the columnists do not reflect those of The Post. What do you think? Tell Jack by tweeting him at @thejackgleckler.
