YouTube’s CEO Responds to Controversies, Promises Stronger Enforcement

YouTube is working on tightening and enforcing policies that include consequences if a content creator’s actions negatively impact the rest of the community, said YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki on Thursday in a blog post that outlined the company’s goals for 2018.

The site’s open platform means that questionable content can be uploaded and published before YouTube can address the issue. Scandals surrounding YouTube creators is not something new.

Just weeks ago, YouTube star Logan Paul became the center of controversy over a disturbing video showing the body of a man who had recently committed suicide. The video has been taken down from the site following immediate backlash. However, the damage had already been done and the clip ignited controversy for both Paul and the site itself.

“We realize we have a serious social responsibility to get these emerging policy issues right, so we seek advice from dozens of expert advisors and third-parties,” Wojcicki writes. “For example, on issues of hate speech we work with the Anti-Defamation League in the U.S. and on issues of self-harm, we work with the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. These third-parties have been essential in helping us refine our policies and we will continue to work with them throughout 2018.”

While Wojcicki does not reference Paul or any other YouTube creators directly in the post, the objective is to develop policies that will result in “consequences if a creator does something egregious that causes significant harm to our community as a whole.”

Wojcicki plans to follow through with the improvement using “a combination of human review and machine learning technology,” with the goal of having over 10,000 people working to address questionable content. Machine learning will also allow creators to review potentially offensive comments and address content violations.