YouTube couldn't wait to tell people just how many videos of extremism and adult entertainment it removed from its platform late last year. Yeah, talk about an odd brand of excitement. Following its announcement to clean up its community earlier this year, YouTube revealed in its new Community Guidelines quarterly report that some 8-million videos were removed from the platform between October and December last year. "The majority of these 8-million videos were mostly spam or people attempting to upload adult content -- and represent a fraction of a percent of YouTube’s total views during this time period," the company wrote. Additionally, 6.7-million...
Okay, so I'm a bit of a mad cat lady. If you ever wanted me to pay attention to something, bury that information in a cat video and send it to me. That's probably why I've been watching pet company Whiskas's Kitten Kollege YouTube series for the past 20 minutes. Uh, yes, I'm totally working. The series takes the idea that anyone (and any species) can learn anything on the internet to heart. "Adopting a tiny kitten is a magical experience, it literally takes seconds after introducing the curious little feline to your home that you realise two things: firstly, cats are...
Three people were wounded on Tuesday after a shooting broke out at YouTube's California headquarters. The shooter later committed suicide. According to a statement, the San Bruno Police Department received 911 calls "reporting gun fire at the YouTube campus located at 901 Cherry Avenue in San Bruno". Officers then arrived at the headquarters minutes later. "Arriving officers encountered numerous employees fleeing the building. Officers encountered one victim with an apparent gunshot wound to a lower extremity at the front of the building," the statement continued. A "deceased female inside with a possible self-inflicted gunshot wound" was then found. She was...
YouTube will ban videos that promote guns, gun accessories and educational videos on firearms, the company announced in a relatively silent update. The company rewrote its policies regarding content featuring firearms, meaning that content creators will now have to think twice about uploading gun-related videos to the service. YouTube will now prohibit videos that "intends to sell firearms or certain firearms accessories through direct sales" or attached links within the video itself. These accessories include automatic gun conversion kits -- like bump stocks or gatling triggers -- and high capacity magazines carrying in excess of 30 rounds. The Google-owned video giant will...
Popular YouTuber Casey Neistat has been very vocal about the company's failings in cultivating a healthy platform for users and creators. He's made multiple videos addressing the unfair demonetisation of videos (dubbed the adpocalypse), as well as the Logan Paul scandal, which saw another popular YouTuber under fire for posting a video with a recent suicide victim. Neistat and YouTube's chief business officer talk removal protocols, trending algorithms, and more Now, Neistat has interviewed YouTube's chief business officer, Robert Kyncl, to discuss the way forward post-Paul. The interview, which took place twelve days pre-upload, does not address Paul's recent suspension for disturbing content...
A boxing match between YouTuber rivals KSI and Joe Weller, livestreamed Saturday night, was at its peak watched by 1.6-million viewers. Two days later, the recording has over 15.4-million views. In August last year, KSI challenged Weller to a fight after the latter beat another YouTuber, Theo Baker. I can confirm negotiations for the boxing match between myself vs KSI are underway. #WellerKSI 🥊 — Joe Weller (@joe_weller_) August 14, 2017 The two had shared friendly banter and collaborated on YouTube prior to the declaration, but their relationship soured -- or they realised there was more money to be made in animosity. In the...
After a tumultuous 2017, YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki has published a blog post highlighting the company's five priorities for 2018 -- but the post is littered with vague promises that don't tie the company down to tangible policy changes. The first priority, Wojcicki writes, is "transparency and communication". YouTube was met with criticism last year for its silence over issues like unexplained demonetisation and "Elsagate", which saw apparent kids videos depict violent imagery like suicides and self-harm. YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki has offered up vague promises for 2018 To fix it? YouTube will be doing much of the same. Wojcicki says that, along with blog...
Earlier this month, we uncovered a novel advertising campaign subverting Donald Trump's "shithole countries" remark. We thought it was pretty damn funny. And it seems that the world largely agrees. Published on Namibian rapper EES's YouTube channel and commissioned by the Gondwana Collection, the video gives viewers a tour of Namibia's "shithole" attractions, including the country's host of wildlife and natural beauty. It has now been viewed over 89 000 times on EES's channel, and more than 476 000 times on Gondwana Collection's. In a press release analytics firm Meltwater explained that more than 1000 articles were penned about the video, with...
YouTube is readying its own music streaming service for debut in March 2018, according to a report by Bloomberg. The service, which is known within the firm as YouTube Remix, serves to hush music industry big-wigs who have been longing for a larger slice of revenue from the world's biggest video service. But Remix's existence isn't set in stone just yet. The Alphabet-owned company continues to slug it out with music companies Universal and Sony, and music video distributor Vevo for new content deals. There's also the question of how -- and if -- Remix will tie into Google's other streaming music service,...
YouTube this week announced the most watched videos of 2017 worldwide -- but there aren't exactly the videos South Africa was watching. Instead, South Africans were keeping loyal to local artists, Nigerian comedians, and beautiful women. Standard. (This list is of general trending videos, and not music videos from major labels.) 10. Simphiwe Ngema remembers late husband Dumisani Masilela Who: Eyewitness News When: 9 August Views: 1 million. 9. Quick thinking Porsche driver outwits an armed hijacker Who: Crime Intelligence & Community Awareness When: 13 May 2017 Views: 4.4 million. 8. Maths Teacher (Mark Angel Comedy) Who: MarkAngelComedy When: 16 June Views: 7 million. 7. Uzalo Mamlambo in real life Who: South African Videos When: 8 May Views: 1.6 million. 6. New Durban bhenga Dance 2017 Who: DangerFlex SA When: 26 January Views: 955 600. 5. Sipho Ngwenya feat Thinah...
YouTube has released its two top 10 lists -- one for general content and one for music videos -- so without further ado, here are the most watched videos of 2017. Top 10 Trending Videos 10. Children interrupt BBC News interview Who: BBC News; When: 10 March; Views: 25 million. 9. In a Heartbeat Who: Beth David and Esteban Bravo; When: 31 July; Views: 32 million. 8. history of the entire world, i guess Who: Bill Wurtz; When: 10 May; Views: 35.1 million. 7. A Bad Lip Reading of Donald Trump's inauguration Who: Bad Lip Reading; When: 25 January; Views: 35.1 million. 6. Lady Gaga's Sugar Super Halftime Show Who: NFL; When: 5 February; Views: 37.1 million. 5. Ed Sheeran's Carpool Karaoke Who: The Late Late Show with James Corden; When: 6 June; Views: 39.9 million. 4. Darci Lynne's America's Got Talent audition Who:...
YouTube has finally addressed its child content and monetisation problems after years of reportedly ignoring its creators and their concerns. In a post to YouTube's creator blog, CEO Susan Wojcicki admitted that the company has a problem, and that it needed to be "more accurate" with the content it financially endorses. The announcement comes years after creators say they sounded the alarm for what is now dubbed "Elsagate", a scandal that involves disturbing videos targeted at children. YouTube has seemingly only responded after a New York Times article led advertisers to divest from the company. CEO Susan Wocjicki says that YouTube needs to be 'more accurate' regarding content it financially endorses "Some bad actors are exploiting our openness...
YouTube's Community feature, which it had been testing with a few creators for around a year, has been expanded to all users with more than 10 000 subscribers. The social feature allows creators to engage with their viewers using text, photos, polls, and more. The expansion announcement was expected -- it had been hinted at by a number of creators on Twitter -- but what wasn't expected was the introduction of a Stories-like feature called Reels. Got word that the @YouTube Community tab I've been talking to you guys on is opening up to more creators this week. @nealmohan true? — Kevin Durant (@KDTrey5)...
YouTube Kids -- a child-friendly, filtered app -- has been updated to include individual profiles that adapt to a child's age. The company has announced that parents will now be able to create up to eight separate profiles for their children. The children can then set up passcodes for their profiles to avoid sibling interference. Parents will be able to override these security settings. YouTube requires the child's name and birthday for their profiles, and says it will adapt the look of its app to fit the age group. "Younger kids will get less text, while older kids will get more content on the home...
Back in June, South African YouTuber Kyle Olinsky was outed for sending sexually and violently graphic messages to random women on Instagram. In one message, he told a woman that she "can't say no", threatening her with rape. Many were outraged that a man of his status, with a sizeable following on his gaming channel BluRz, was seemingly harassing women online with no remorse. But Olinsky barely lost a subscriber, and he saw a small surge of followers on Twitter despite taking part in his own social media blackout. Olinsky's viewers were with him -- and when he finally released his...
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