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> When you deal with the scale that YT are operating at, automating content moderation is the only cost effective way. At some point the Silicon Valley excuse
by DanBC 4y ago
> When you deal with the scale that YT are operating at, automating content moderation is the only cost effective way.
At some point the Silicon Valley excuse of "we can't afford to do it" is going to run into dumb but powerful regulators who simply do not care and who will impose strict law to force it to happen.
YouTube has managed to persuade some regulators that the advertisers and the channel owners are solely responsible for ad placement, and that YouTube (which controls which products can be advertised, which places the ads, which takes most of the money for the ads, which has contracts with the advertisers and the channels where ads are placed, which earns most of its revenue through ads) has nothing to do with ads. That's worked for them in the US, but it's a fact that regulators in other countries are losing patience.
For example, YouTube needs a way to stop alcohol being advertised to children.
At the moment YouTube are saying that it's the responsibility of the drinks company and the channel to stop this happening. That works in the US, but it doesn't work in Europe, and YouTube saying "we don't know how old people are because COPPA" is met with "so what? It's still a problem, and you need to fix it".
- laumars 4y agoEven in classical broadcasting in Europe there’s an element outside of the broadcasters control. In the U.K. we have a “watershed” where content gets more adult after 9PM. But kids can watch TV after then and still see adverts for alcohol. The solution to that is the same as with YT, parents need to accept some responsibility to vet what their kids watch (I say this as a parent myself). I’m not saying this excuses YT of any responsibility though. Just that this problem has always existed.
- DanBC 4y agoThe watershed is a good example that supports my point. We have law that says "don't advertise to children", and that's quite tricky so if a beer company says "we only placed ads in programmes that aired after 9pm which had adult themes" they're in the clear. If they place ads in shows at 7pm that are aimed at families they're in trouble. The YouTube version is the channel saying "I have no idea who watches my channel because YouTube won't and can't tell me", advertisers saying "We advertise with YouTube, we expect them to place the ads responsibly, and we can't rely on YT analytics because COPPA means many children watch while logged into a parents account" and YouTube saying "we don't care, it's entirely the responsibility of the channels and advertisers". It's this last "we don't care" bit that is causing problems. As the watershed example shows you don't have to have a bullet proof solution. You just need to make some good faith attempt to create conventions around ad placement that reduce the numbers of alcohol ads being served to children.
- laumars 4y agoAdvertiser have no less of an idea who watches videos on YT than they do on TV. Advertisers choose their slot on TV. They also choose their demographic on YouTube (it’s called “targeted advertising”). Hence why you’re more likely to get ads about tech products on a tech video vs a music video.