Youtube Insulting Clips Raise Concern

Youtube and inevitably Google have been caught up in one more controversy over anti-Semitic videos circulating onsite. The Central Council of Jews in Germany took the case to the court to persuade the video-sharing site to permanently eradicate similar context. Claims that Google is to be held liable for “aiding and abetting racial hatred and discrimination” might be on the exaggeration side, nevertheless in Germany, incitement to racial hatred crosses the legal red line. Echoes of last year’s report in which it was stated that, among other racist works, Internet viewers could watch a Nazi propaganda clip called Jud Suess on YouTube, have not faded away yet. While the paradox still stands that Jud Suess is a powerful weapon against racism offering compelling video testimony about that particularly insane mix of evil and absurdity that characterized the Third Reich, nevertheless righteous are the concerns about Youtube context.

On another instance last month, the National Society for Epilepsy (NSE) were not so radical from their side and curbed to a warning for dozens of clips of people having seizures, some viewed by more than 70,000 people. Hundreds more show people pretending to have seizures in an unintelligible mockery of people suffering the syndrome.

“Footage of people having seizures which has been posted on the website YouTube is like a modern equivalent of the Victorian freak show”. Dr Sallie Baxendale, consultant neuropsychologist with the NSE continued: "In the original freak shows you couldn't have epilepsy because you couldn't have it on cue but on a video you can watch it whenever you want. They have got very graphic titles like 'never ending seizure'. Those are the one that have got the most hits.

A YouTube spokesman in an attempt to answer claimed: "YouTube has clear policies that prohibit inappropriate content on the site. Our community understands the rules and polices the site for inappropriate material. When users feel content is inappropriate they can flag it and our staff then review it as quickly as possible to see if it violates our Terms of Use. If users repeatedly break these rules we disable their accounts."

Have you ever encountered something insulting on a personal basis on Youtube?