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Suicide Instructions Spliced into Kids’ Cartoons on YouTube and YouTube Kids

posted by Fnord666 on Tuesday February 26 2019, @05:31PM   Printer-friendly
from the serious-mental-health-issues dept.

Freeman writes:

Tips for committing suicide are appearing in children's cartoons on YouTube and the YouTube Kids app.

https://arstechnica.com/science/2019/02/youtube-kids-cartoons-include-tips-for-committing-suicide-docs-warn/

YouTube Kids is theoretically a curated collection of videos that are safe for kids. Apparently, someone forgot to tell YouTube/Google that. Sure, YouTube probably has some butt covering clause in their EULA. That doesn't excuse such an oversight, though. It's very easy to see overworked, stressed parents, giving their kids access to YouTube/YouTube Kids. Kids have enough to deal with, without having to deal with grown-ups twisted thoughts. This seems more like insidious minds at work to me. What do you think?

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  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by takyon on Tuesday February 26 2019, @07:51PM

    by takyon (881) <takyonNO@SPAMsoylentnews.org> on Tuesday February 26 2019, @07:51PM (#807204) Journal

    YouTube has many enemies:

    • Competing streaming platforms such as Amazon, Netflix, and soon Disney. These platforms compete for eyeballs. Amazon and Washington Post are linked, and Disney has ABC. Amazon also has Twitch.tv, a competitor to YouTube Gaming.
    • Individual news outlets. The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, CNN, etc. can operate on the YouTube platform, but they have to share a relatively equal footing with people sharing their political opinions from their basement. Either way, these outlets are competing for eyeballs with YouTube. They may also resent being called "fake news".
    • TV providers. YouTube now provides live cable content to subscribers, so it competes with the likes of Cox, DirecTV, Time Warner, etc. Many of which are also ISPs, giving them a potential way to attack Google/YouTube.
    • People who want to censor various political opinions. Righty is going to get hit the hardest due to the realities of Google and YouTube operating in California. But various kinds of leftists and WSSSWSWSWSSWS types also get hit.
    • Governments, law enforcement, and lawmakers. YouTube is only complying with user data requests [google.com] about 2/3 of the time. YouTube often gets blocked in countries like Turkey or Thailand. And now a number of countries and the EU want to increase copyright and anti-terrorism burdens on YouTube.
    • Clout chasers and bloggers. Matt Watson from the other day or this pedimom blog. Sparking a big outrage can exponentially increase the amount of attention they get, and potentially earn them some ca$h.
    • Other opportunists, such as Eric Feinberg [adage.com].

    I don't think YouTube is even its own worst enemy anymore. And the list above is unlikely to be exhaustive.

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