YouTube disables comments on videos featuring children after vlogger discovers 'paedophile ring'
A vlogger said he had discovered a "soft-core paedophile ring" exchanging links to child pornography in video comment sections.
Friday 1 March 2019 05:31, UK
YouTube will disable comments on videos featuring children, after a vlogger alleged he had found instances of paedophiles targeting videos of young girls on the site.
The video-sharing platform said it had suspended comments on tens of millions of videos over the past week which "could be at risk of attracting predatory behaviour".
US-based vlogger Matt Watson, who runs the channel MattsWhatItIs, claimed he had discovered a "wormhole" into a "soft-core paedophile ring".
In a video posted to the platform, he said paedophiles were providing links to child pornography, sharing contact details and trading unlisted videos in the comment sections underneath videos.
Many of the videos being targeted are "innocuous" and legal, showing children performing everyday activities at home.
Watson also alleged the site's 'recommended' feature, which directs users to similar videos, was "facilitating" the predators' ability to connect with each other.
Companies including Nestle and Fortnite maker Epic Games have pulled their advertising on the site following the claims.
In a statement on its Creator Blog, YouTube said it was taking "important steps" which are "critical for keeping young people safe", and would continue to identify videos at risk.
The statement said: "Over the next few months, we will be broadening this action to suspend comments on videos featuring young minors and videos featuring older minors that could be at risk of attracting predatory behaviour."
YouTube added that a "small number of creators" would be able to keep the comments on but would need to actively monitor and show they were at "low risk of predatory behaviour".
The platform is also introducing a new "comments classifier" which will be able to detect and remove twice as many predatory comments as the current system.
This is not the first time that YouTube has been scrutinised over content featuring children.
In 2017, Mars and Adidas withdrew advertising from the site after campaigners warned paedophiles were targeting videos of children.
An investigation in The Times found predators left lewd comments and tried to encourage the children posting the videos to take part in private discussions through online forums.
Following the backlash, YouTube said it had "toughened" its approach to videos and comments featuring children and was "committed to getting this right".
Last week, YouTube said it had shut down more than 400 channels in 48 hours in an aggressive approach beyond its usual protections.
On Friday, the NSPCC warned that "keeping children safe cannot be left to social networks" after figures revealed there were 5,161 reports of sexual communications with a child recorded in just 18 months.
The number of children targeted for grooming and abuse on Instagram has more than tripled - with some of the victims as young as five years old.
Facebook, Snapchat and Instagram were used in 70% of incidents.