YouTube to crack down on videos showing child endangerment

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iStock/Thinkstock(SAN Bruno, Calif.) — YouTube has announced a plan to implement stricter controls on videos that show child endangerment.

The move, announced on Wednesday, comes after a BuzzFeed article exposed videos of children in “disturbing and abusive situations,” some of which had racked up millions of views.

YouTube says it implemented new guidelines to remove content that features the endangerment of a child, even if that’s not what the uploader intended.

In a post on the company’s official blog, the company’s vice president of product management, Johanna Wright, said YouTube had shut down more than 50 channels and removed thousands of videos that don’t fit under the new, stricter guidelines in the past week.

YouTube also says it will block inappropriate comments on videos that feature minors by using a combination of automated and human flagging.

The company also announced the creation of a platform for family friendly content, called YouTube Kids, but didn’t give a timeline for when it would be available.

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