Last week, a YouTuber named Matt Watson sparked a major backlash against the video streaming giant, when posted a video describing exactly how he “…discovered a wormhole into a soft-core pedophilia ring on Youtube. Youtube’s recommended algorithm is facilitating pedophiles’ ability to connect with each-other, trade contact info, and link to actual CP in the comments. I can consistently get access to it from vanilla, never-before-used Youtube accounts via innocuous videos in less than ten minutes, in sometimes less than five clicks. Additionally, I have video evidence that these videos are being monetized.” Watson then goes on to actually navigate and illustrate his point.
The response to Watson’s video has been swift as numerous companies, such as Epic Games, Disney, AT&T and others have pulled their ads from the platform, while YouTube has been racing to delete video channels and comments.
Watson’s essay was the latest to point out a long-running issue that the company has faced, and the company told The Verge that it was enforcing its policies “aggressively, reporting it to the relevant authorities, removing it from our platform and terminating accounts.”
The situation is still playing out for YouTube, its creators, and viewers. You can still find Watson’s original video on YouTube, which suprisingly, has yet to remove it, and you can check out The Verge for all the latest updates.
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