Google-owned online video platform YouTube will put processes in place to make its platform more 'family-friendly'.
"In recent months, we've noticed a growing trend around content on YouTube that attempts to pass as family-friendly, but is clearly not. While some of these videos may be suitable for adults, others are completely unacceptable, so we are working to remove them from YouTube," says Johanna Wright, YouTube VP of product management.
The company is taking five steps to ensure adult content does not make its way onto YouTube.
This first is a tougher application of its community guidelines and faster enforcement through technology.
"We have always had strict policies against child endangerment, and we partner closely with regional authorities and experts to help us enforce these policies. In the last couple of weeks, we expanded our enforcement guidelines around removing content featuring minors that may be endangering a child, even if that was not the uploader's intent."
Wright says in the last week, over 50 channels have been terminated and thousands of videos have been removed under these guidelines.
Age-restrict policies have been implemented for content with family entertainment characters but containing mature themes or adult humour. Machine learning technology and automated tools will be used to help identify content that potentially violates these policies and escalate it for human review.
The second step is removing ads from inappropriate videos targeting families.
In June, YouTube said it would remove adverts from any content depicting family entertainment characters engaged in violent, offensive, or otherwise inappropriate behaviour, even if done for comedic or satirical purposes. The company has since removed ads from three million videos.
The third step will be to block inappropriate comments on videos featuring minors.
"We have historically used a combination of automated systems and human flagging and review to remove inappropriate sexual or predatory comments on videos featuring minors... Starting this week, we will begin taking an even more aggressive stance by turning off all comments on videos of minors where we see these types of comments," says Wright.
YouTube will give creators who make family-friendly content comprehensive guidelines in the next few weeks, as the fourth step.
The fifth action will be YouTube growing the number of experts it works with, and doubling its Trusted Flaggers partners, to help better understand how to treat nuanced content.
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