YouTube cracks down on violent movies
Under pressure from U.S. lawmakers, the website has now announced stricter content controls and tougher measures against videos that incite violence. The company, which has been part of Google for several months, banned such content last week by amending its terms of service.
The video portal YouTube is responding to criticism from politicians: under pressure from US MPs, the website has now announced stricter controls on content and tougher action against films that incite violence. The company, which has been owned by Google for several months, banned such content last week with a change to its terms of use.
Google spokesperson Henning Dorstewitz told the German press agency DPA on Wednesday that the changes are a reaction to religiously motivated calls for violence and hatred, but also to violent videos from youth gangs, for example.
Previously, the company had only outlawed "drastic or gratuitous violence" and even left some videos from the Al Qaeda terrorist network online. US politicians, above all Senator Joseph Lieberman, took action against this.
However, YouTube does not search for potentially banned videos itself, but responds to complaints from users. "Trained employees" then check whether the film violates the platform's terms of use, said Dorstewitz. A "case-by-case decision" is made each time.
He emphasized that the right to freedom of expression is fundamentally more important to YouTube than questions of taste. "However, we do not tolerate videos that clearly violate the law or the terms of use."
YouTube is the world's leading video portal. It is freely accessible. All registered users can upload files and thus make them available to a global audience. All you need to register is an e-mail address.
Google spokesperson Henning Dorstewitz told the German press agency DPA on Wednesday that the changes are a reaction to religiously motivated calls for violence and hatred, but also to violent videos from youth gangs, for example.
Previously, the company had only outlawed "drastic or gratuitous violence" and even left some videos from the Al Qaeda terrorist network online. US politicians, above all Senator Joseph Lieberman, took action against this.
However, YouTube does not search for potentially banned videos itself, but responds to complaints from users. "Trained employees" then check whether the film violates the platform's terms of use, said Dorstewitz. A "case-by-case decision" is made each time.
He emphasized that the right to freedom of expression is fundamentally more important to YouTube than questions of taste. "However, we do not tolerate videos that clearly violate the law or the terms of use."
YouTube is the world's leading video portal. It is freely accessible. All registered users can upload files and thus make them available to a global audience. All you need to register is an e-mail address.
