Google: A Question of Judgment
July 3, 2019
In the realm of unintended consequences, this one is a doozy. MIT Technology Review reports, “YouTube’s Algorithm Makes it Easy for Pedophiles to Find More Videos of Children.” The brief write-up provides just-the-facts coverage of the disturbing issue. Writer Charlotte Jee summarizes:
“YouTube’s automated recommendation system has gathered a collection of prepubescent, partially clothed children and is recommending it to people who have watched similar videos, the New York Times reports. While some of the recommendations have been switched off on certain videos, the company has refused to end the practice. …
We noted:
“YouTube disabled comments on many videos of children in February after an outcry over pedophiles using the comment section to guide each other. It doesn’t let kids under 13 open accounts. However, it won’t stop recommending videos of children because it is worried about negative impact on family vloggers, some of whom have many millions of followers. In a blog post responding to the New York Times story, YouTube said that it was ‘limiting’ recommendations on some videos that may put children at risk.”
Those limits are to be applied to videos with minors in “risky situations,” though the blog post does not specify who, or what, will make that judgment. Jee is suspicions of YouTube’s motivations, noting that the site’s goal is to capture and keep “eyeballs.” Despite what else is allowed to thrive across the platform, the company apparently decided to draw a (dotted) line at this issue.
Cynthia Murrell, July 3, 2019
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