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WASHINGTON, May 16 (AP) — When researchers at a nonprofit that studies social media wanted to understand the link between YouTube videos and gun violence, they built a model on the platform that mimics life in the U.S. Accounts of Boys Behavior
They simulated two 9-year-olds who both love video games, especially first-person shooters. The accounts are exactly the same, except that one clicked on the video recommended by YouTube, and the other ignored the platform’s recommendation.
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Accounts that clicked on YouTube suggestions were quickly flooded with graphic videos about school shootings, tactical gun training videos and how-to instructions on how to make a gun fully automatic. In one video, an elementary school-age girl brandishes a pistol; another shows a shooter using a .50-caliber gun to open fire at a dummy head filled with blood and brains. Many of the videos violate YouTube’s own policy against violence or gore.
Despite YouTube’s rules and content moderation, the platform has failed to stop the spread of horrific videos that could traumatize vulnerable children — or send them down dark paths of extremism and violence, findings show .
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“Video games are one of the most popular activities for kids. You can play a game like Call of Duty without going to a gun store — but YouTube is taking them there,” says Katie Paul, director of the Tech Transparency Project The research team released its findings on YouTube on Tuesday, said. “It’s not a video game, it’s not a kid. It’s an algorithm.”
Accounts that followed YouTube’s Promoted Videos received 382 different gun-related videos in one month, or about 12 per day. Accounts that ignored YouTube recommendations still received some gun-related videos, but only 34 in total.
The researchers also created accounts that mimicked 14-year-old boys who liked video games; these accounts also received similar levels of gun and violence-related content.
One of the videos recommended for these accounts is titled “How the Switch Works on a Glock (for educational purposes only)”. YouTube later removed the video after determining it violated its rules; a nearly identical video popped up two weeks later, but with a slightly changed name; the video is still available.
Messages seeking comment from YouTube were not immediately returned Tuesday. Executives at the platform, which is owned by Google, have said identifying and removing harmful content is a top priority, as is protecting its youngest users. YouTube requires users under the age of 17 to obtain parental permission before using its site; users under the age of 13 have their accounts linked to their parent’s account.
Along with TikTok, the video-sharing platform is one of the most popular sites for kids and teens. Both sites have been criticized in the past for hosting and in some cases promoting videos that encourage gun violence, eating disorders and self-harm. Critics of social media also point to the link between social media, radicalization, and real-world violence.
Those behind many of the recent mass shootings have used social media and video-streaming platforms to glorify the violence, even live-streaming their attacks. In YouTube posts, the gunman who attacked a Parkland, Fla., school in 2018 and killed 17 wrote: “I want to kill,” “I’m going to be a pro school shooter” and “I shot a The girl’s boobs are fine.”
The neo-Nazi gunman who killed eight people at a Dallas-area mall earlier this month also has a YouTube account that includes videos of assembling a rifle, a serial that killed Jeffrey Dahmer and footage of a school shooting on a TV show .
In some cases, YouTube has removed some of the videos found by Tech Transparency Project researchers, but in other cases, the content remains available. Many large tech companies rely on automated systems to flag and remove content that violates their rules, but Paul said the findings reported by the project point to the need for greater investment in content moderation.
In the absence of federal regulation, social media companies can target young users with potentially harmful content designed to keep them coming back for more, said Shelby Knox, campaign director for the advocacy group Parents Together. Knox’s team is calling for platforms like YouTube, Instagram and TikTok to make it easier for children and teens to find content about suicide, guns, violence and drugs.
“Time and time again, big tech platforms like TikTok have chosen their profits, their shareholders, and their companies over the health, safety, and even lives of children,” Knox said in response to a report released earlier this year. The report said that the report showed that TikTok was recommending harmful content to teenagers.
TikTok defended its website and policies prohibiting users under the age of 13. Its rules also prohibit videos that encourage harmful behavior; users searching for content on topics such as eating disorders are automatically prompted to provide mental health resources. (Associated Press)
(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from a Syndicated News feed, the content body may not have been modified or edited by LatestLY staff)
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