8 ms·

I can't tell if this article was the original or if H3H3's video was the original, but H3H3 also covers this - https://youtu.be/3ewyEF3Wd9M https://youtu.be/3e

by umvi 8y ago

I can't tell if this article was the original or if H3H3's video was the original, but H3H3 also covers this - https://youtu.be/3ewyEF3Wd9M https://youtu.be/3ewyEF3Wd9M TL;DW - Youtubers with large young audiences are promoting loot box style gambling. Youtube seems like the wild west. On the dark side we have channels bursting with (possibly) human trafficked vietnamese women producing sexual content masquerading as slice-of-life, huge youtubers promoting gambling to children, elsagate, etc. On the light side we have people's videos being flagged for copyright violations over literal sounds of nature, music they produced themselves, or music playing in the background. Also "fair use" doesn't exist on YouTube - a 1 second clip is enough for a company to claim your video apparently. There are still a lot of niche channels I love on YouTube but I would never want to try to make a living producing content on that platform myself... seems too volatile.

vinceguidry 8y ago
I think the Internet has created a world in which the number of steps one needs to take before running headfirst into the Earth's greatest evils is getting shorter by the year. It's just going to get harder and harder to insulate yourself from this stuff. I don't know if this is a good or a bad thing.
- tivert 8y ago
  > I don't know if this is a good or a bad thing. How do you think that could be a good thing? Seems like an obviously bad thing to me.
  - vinceguidry 8y ago
    More awareness of evil means more political will to clean it up.
    - spookthesunset 8y ago
      > More awareness of evil means more political will to clean it up. Maybe, but it seems like people who fall into the echo chamber just vote for the evil doers instead.
bluetidepro 8y ago
I love me some H3H3, and watched this the other day. To me, the craziest part is that YouTube promoted it. To be fair, I'm sure it was an automated system that did it, and not by choice of YouTube but still. Seems like a thing they should have easily been able to quickly correct/fix manually.
- Conlectus 8y ago
  YouTube has gotten flak for being biased in their "Trending" promotions recently, so maybe they've taken more of a hands-off approach.
  - bluetidepro 8y ago
    Yeah, I'm sure it's somewhat of a lose-lose for them. If they do it by hand, people will bitch about them "playing favorites", but if a automated system does it, you have problems like this.
    - dvtrn 8y ago
      Which is how you get people like me screaming at the platforms: "Stop with this trending nonsense, stop with this "your friends liked" nonsense, stop with this "in case your missed it" nonsense, take your hands off me and just let me mindlessly click and watch whatever videos I feel like watching and react to the tweets I want to react to, I don't need your damn help knowing what my friends are doing or feeling like I need to like something because the platform detected that Jim liked it six hours ago since my last login". For all this talk about FOMO, it's impossible for me, personally, to NOT look at the culpability the platforms have in it by nagging me all the time about what everyone else is doing and be annoyed by it. I know what they're doing, I see it. I don't need your helicopter parenting to know that, twitter. Keep the trolls in line, keep the lights on, otherwise get out of the way.
      - all2 8y ago
        In the absence of deliberate algorithms a site like YT has few things to fall back on: - Sort by time. - Sort by creator/channel. - Sort by creator selected content type (fallible). - Search (a la Google, which sucks on Youtube). - ??? I wonder if these would be sufficient? Maybe something like Reddit/HN is necessary; some human aggregation and interaction. Would a Reddit style interface work well for video? A landing page with trending videos (upvotes, comments, threads, etc.), links out to popular subjects/sub-reddits, and so on. Perhaps with an interface like HN which forces people together in one kind of communication (in threads), generous wait periods for new members, and so on... I suppose that only considers the viewer's use-case. What about monetization? What about creators?
qeternity 8y ago
> On the dark side we have channels bursting with (possibly) human trafficked vietnamese women producing sexual content masquerading as slice-of-life Can you explain for those of us out of the loop...
- PopeDotNinja 8y ago
  I tried googling around for a couple minutes, but only found videos about human trafficking hosted in YouTube. I'm curious, too.
  - dijit 8y ago
    paymoneywubby did a video about it last month. https://youtu.be/hc4HzbD0GLI https://youtu.be/hc4HzbD0GLI
- deleted 8y ago
  [deleted]
- jhart99 8y ago
  I think he is referring to these sorts of videos https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w5aPc2wlLiA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w5aPc2wlLiA which are "slice of life" videos taken to their extreme. For an example, here is a slice of life one that isn't so extreme https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fhkE3e7lT_g https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fhkE3e7lT_g
  - PopeDotNinja 8y ago
    Could bootstrapping one or more YouTube channels starring trafficking victims be profitable enough to attract organized crime? Could someone who knows a bit about YouTube channel growth & revenue streams crunch some numbers to post here? I assume that "bikini girl" prepended to any video title attract more views than videos of me. "old, chubby bald dude fishing in real life" doesn't seem like a great clickbait title. If there's enough money to be made in "slice of life" videos, I guess it could attract the attention of human traffickers.
  - 8y ago
CSMastermind 8y ago
> On the dark side we have channels bursting with (possibly) human trafficked vietnamese women producing sexual content masquerading as slice-of-life, Wait what?
gowld 8y ago
Why would you assume that woman (singular) is trafficked, and not an entrepenuer? Do you think her whole family was abducted and held hostage?
- umvi 8y ago
  I honestly don't know if the woman in paymoneywubby's video is trafficked or not, but there were a lot of red flags that made me really uncomfortable when combined: - Frequency and quantity of the uploads indicated she was doing these videos more than full-time - No verbal interaction other than an occasional glare at cameraman - Vietnam, not (say) America or Europe I'd like to give the benefit of the doubt, but something makes me deeply uncomfortable about it.
  - docker_up 8y ago
    This is deeply racist. Just because she's Vietnamese and not white, your unconscious bias suggests to you that she's a victim of human trafficking?
    - jki275 8y ago
      No, it's not. Southeast Asian, specifically Filipino, Thai, and Vietnamese women are the most commonly trafficked ethnic group worldwide.
      - docker_up 8y ago
        You're wrong. https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2013/06/a-fascinating-map-of-the-worst-countries-for-modern-slavery/277037/ https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2013/06/a-...
        jki275 8y ago
        That article doesn't address the discussion. First, it's five years old, and second it's talking about something that is somewhat different. I might also note that I lived in southeast Asia for many years. There's a huge amount of trafficking that isn't being reported to the Atlantic website or the US State department there.
colpabar 8y ago
H3H3 is just as guilty of this. They were one of MANY channels advertising a scam "therapy" service called Better Help to viewers with mental health issues. While he did acknowledge it, it was only after being called out in a Pewdiepie video, and he seemed much more upset about getting caught than promoting such a scam of a service.
- fokinsean 8y ago
  What's scammy about Better Help?
  - colpabar 8y ago
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dXUEnagP69c https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dXUEnagP69c This happened a while ago so I don't remember everything, but I believe the company was like an Uber for therapy, rather than providing therapy directly.
  - dijit 8y ago
    A few months ago Pewdiepie posted a video[0] that roughly took the piss out of Better Help and their practices and pointed out the irony of an online counseling service that claims to be a cheaper alternative to actual therapy, but still lists in their terms of service that you need actual therapy and that what they offer is only supplemental in nature. So basically they're engaging in borderline false advertising targeted at people who are by definition emotionally and psychologically vulnerable and compromised. And the youtube side of it is that a whole host of youtubers promoted this service on their platforms. Not to mention that their terms dictate they can sell your data. Which obviously is unexpected from a“medical” company. [0]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8PLgOaVXmGU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8PLgOaVXmGU
    - larkeith 8y ago
      > Not to mention that their terms dictate they can sell your data. Which obviously is unexpected from a“medical” company. That seems like it must be skirting the HIPAA line very closely.
samstave 8y ago
>Youtube seems like the wild west. YT to me is more like Kowloon Walled City - massive and amazing as a monolithic entity, and you can find amazing gems - but when you look closely, its a lawless cess-pool with a confusing and almost evil method of getting around - and things that shouldn't be anywhere near each-other are practically roommates, rather than neighbors. And you should not trust any strangers you come across, no matter what they promise you. Also, its a terrible place for children to be unattended - and is largely ungoverned by those who should be governing it...

by umvi 8y ago

vinceguidry 8y ago

I think the Internet has created a world in which the number of steps one needs to take before running headfirst into the Earth's greatest evils is getting shorter by the year. It's just going to get harder and harder to insulate yourself from this stuff. I don't know if this is a good or a bad thing.

tivert 8y ago
> I don't know if this is a good or a bad thing. How do you think that could be a good thing? Seems like an obviously bad thing to me.
- vinceguidry 8y ago
  More awareness of evil means more political will to clean it up.
  - spookthesunset 8y ago
    > More awareness of evil means more political will to clean it up. Maybe, but it seems like people who fall into the echo chamber just vote for the evil doers instead.

bluetidepro 8y ago

I love me some H3H3, and watched this the other day. To me, the craziest part is that YouTube promoted it. To be fair, I'm sure it was an automated system that did it, and not by choice of YouTube but still. Seems like a thing they should have easily been able to quickly correct/fix manually.

Conlectus 8y ago
YouTube has gotten flak for being biased in their "Trending" promotions recently, so maybe they've taken more of a hands-off approach.
- bluetidepro 8y ago
  Yeah, I'm sure it's somewhat of a lose-lose for them. If they do it by hand, people will bitch about them "playing favorites", but if a automated system does it, you have problems like this.
  - dvtrn 8y ago
    Which is how you get people like me screaming at the platforms: "Stop with this trending nonsense, stop with this "your friends liked" nonsense, stop with this "in case your missed it" nonsense, take your hands off me and just let me mindlessly click and watch whatever videos I feel like watching and react to the tweets I want to react to, I don't need your damn help knowing what my friends are doing or feeling like I need to like something because the platform detected that Jim liked it six hours ago since my last login". For all this talk about FOMO, it's impossible for me, personally, to NOT look at the culpability the platforms have in it by nagging me all the time about what everyone else is doing and be annoyed by it. I know what they're doing, I see it. I don't need your helicopter parenting to know that, twitter. Keep the trolls in line, keep the lights on, otherwise get out of the way.
    - all2 8y ago
      In the absence of deliberate algorithms a site like YT has few things to fall back on: - Sort by time. - Sort by creator/channel. - Sort by creator selected content type (fallible). - Search (a la Google, which sucks on Youtube). - ??? I wonder if these would be sufficient? Maybe something like Reddit/HN is necessary; some human aggregation and interaction. Would a Reddit style interface work well for video? A landing page with trending videos (upvotes, comments, threads, etc.), links out to popular subjects/sub-reddits, and so on. Perhaps with an interface like HN which forces people together in one kind of communication (in threads), generous wait periods for new members, and so on... I suppose that only considers the viewer's use-case. What about monetization? What about creators?

qeternity 8y ago

> On the dark side we have channels bursting with (possibly) human trafficked vietnamese women producing sexual content masquerading as slice-of-life Can you explain for those of us out of the loop...

PopeDotNinja 8y ago
I tried googling around for a couple minutes, but only found videos about human trafficking hosted in YouTube. I'm curious, too.
- dijit 8y ago
  paymoneywubby did a video about it last month. https://youtu.be/hc4HzbD0GLI https://youtu.be/hc4HzbD0GLI
deleted 8y ago
[deleted]
jhart99 8y ago
I think he is referring to these sorts of videos https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w5aPc2wlLiA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w5aPc2wlLiA which are "slice of life" videos taken to their extreme. For an example, here is a slice of life one that isn't so extreme https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fhkE3e7lT_g https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fhkE3e7lT_g
- PopeDotNinja 8y ago
  Could bootstrapping one or more YouTube channels starring trafficking victims be profitable enough to attract organized crime? Could someone who knows a bit about YouTube channel growth & revenue streams crunch some numbers to post here? I assume that "bikini girl" prepended to any video title attract more views than videos of me. "old, chubby bald dude fishing in real life" doesn't seem like a great clickbait title. If there's enough money to be made in "slice of life" videos, I guess it could attract the attention of human traffickers.
- 8y ago

CSMastermind 8y ago

> On the dark side we have channels bursting with (possibly) human trafficked vietnamese women producing sexual content masquerading as slice-of-life, Wait what?

gowld 8y ago

Why would you assume that woman (singular) is trafficked, and not an entrepenuer? Do you think her whole family was abducted and held hostage?

umvi 8y ago
I honestly don't know if the woman in paymoneywubby's video is trafficked or not, but there were a lot of red flags that made me really uncomfortable when combined: - Frequency and quantity of the uploads indicated she was doing these videos more than full-time - No verbal interaction other than an occasional glare at cameraman - Vietnam, not (say) America or Europe I'd like to give the benefit of the doubt, but something makes me deeply uncomfortable about it.
- docker_up 8y ago
  This is deeply racist. Just because she's Vietnamese and not white, your unconscious bias suggests to you that she's a victim of human trafficking?
  - jki275 8y ago
    No, it's not. Southeast Asian, specifically Filipino, Thai, and Vietnamese women are the most commonly trafficked ethnic group worldwide.
    - docker_up 8y ago
      You're wrong. https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2013/06/a-fascinating-map-of-the-worst-countries-for-modern-slavery/277037/ https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2013/06/a-...
      - jki275 8y ago
        That article doesn't address the discussion. First, it's five years old, and second it's talking about something that is somewhat different. I might also note that I lived in southeast Asia for many years. There's a huge amount of trafficking that isn't being reported to the Atlantic website or the US State department there.

colpabar 8y ago

H3H3 is just as guilty of this. They were one of MANY channels advertising a scam "therapy" service called Better Help to viewers with mental health issues. While he did acknowledge it, it was only after being called out in a Pewdiepie video, and he seemed much more upset about getting caught than promoting such a scam of a service.

fokinsean 8y ago
What's scammy about Better Help?
- colpabar 8y ago
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dXUEnagP69c https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dXUEnagP69c This happened a while ago so I don't remember everything, but I believe the company was like an Uber for therapy, rather than providing therapy directly.
- dijit 8y ago
  A few months ago Pewdiepie posted a video[0] that roughly took the piss out of Better Help and their practices and pointed out the irony of an online counseling service that claims to be a cheaper alternative to actual therapy, but still lists in their terms of service that you need actual therapy and that what they offer is only supplemental in nature. So basically they're engaging in borderline false advertising targeted at people who are by definition emotionally and psychologically vulnerable and compromised. And the youtube side of it is that a whole host of youtubers promoted this service on their platforms. Not to mention that their terms dictate they can sell your data. Which obviously is unexpected from a“medical” company. [0]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8PLgOaVXmGU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8PLgOaVXmGU
  - larkeith 8y ago
    > Not to mention that their terms dictate they can sell your data. Which obviously is unexpected from a“medical” company. That seems like it must be skirting the HIPAA line very closely.

samstave 8y ago

>Youtube seems like the wild west. YT to me is more like Kowloon Walled City - massive and amazing as a monolithic entity, and you can find amazing gems - but when you look closely, its a lawless cess-pool with a confusing and almost evil method of getting around - and things that shouldn't be anywhere near each-other are practically roommates, rather than neighbors. And you should not trust any strangers you come across, no matter what they promise you. Also, its a terrible place for children to be unattended - and is largely ungoverned by those who should be governing it...