Can online content be policed?

YouTube is the world’s most popular video-sharing site. Billions of users watch and upload videos on the website, which makes it a natural fit for advertisers.

But the company has come under fire after a UK-based newspaper found adverts running alongside inappropriate videos of children and comments. 

The Times investigation found there were many videos of pre-teen girls, which were then liked and commented on by hundreds of paedophiles.

One such clip of a young girl drew 6.5 million views. Several companies, including chocolate maker MARS and Deutsche bank, have pulled their ads from YouTube in response.

The newspaper said the website allowed sexualised imagery of children to be easily searchable.
It also criticised the company for not monitoring its content.

So, will YouTube do more to monitor and remove certain content?

Presenter: Laura Kyle

 Guests:

Nishanth Sastry – Senior Lecturer in Informatics at King’s College London.

Susan Rose – Marketing and Reputation Expert at Henley Business School.

Aral Balkan – Who describes himself as a “cyborg” rights activist.