YouTube: racism and homophobia are OK

I mentioned in a post some time ago that I was disappointed that a video with a bit of swearing in (Nick's epic bowling movie, for example) could be banned from YouTube.com whereas videos from the BNP which solicited almost explicitly racist comments are left untouched. This situation is symptomatic of a problem with the far-right in online communities: they're far better organised than the left wing are. So, for example, a video during which a Socialist party member reads from a selection of BNP literature and describes them as racist is met with responses like " Can you explain the non-stop HATE I see every day in the eyes of black men…?".

Later, the comments devolve into opposing sides referring to eachother as "Moron" and later, "C*nt". Intriguingly, this last word is banned from videos on YouTube but not from the comments people leave. Check out the abuse this user gets on his profile page. Interestingly, I only stumbled upon that user's profile because he, in turn, had been sending me offensive and threatening messages because he thought I'd posted a video spoofing homophobic reggae 'star', Buju Banton. In turn, a video of fellow reggae performer Shabba Ranks saying the bible supports Buju's positon features the comment "Heah i aint famous so f*ck it, all queers should be shot dead it aint right and should be dealt with by aggression and plenty of it cut there cocks off if they cant use it properly f*ckin sick bastards.. [sic]".

I recognise that in the US, where YouTube is registered, there exists a stronger belief in freedom of expression, whatever offence is caused. And yet, YouTube's Community Guidelines state "We encourage free speech and defend everyone's right to express unpopular points of view. But we don't permit hate speech which contains slurs or the malicious use of stereotypes intended to attack or demean a particular gender, sexual orientation, race, religion, or nationality". The advice given by YouTube is that if you're not happy with something, you should flag it as inappropriate and it will be dealt with. I know, however, that this is just not applied to offensive comments.

So what should be done? Some people will say that frankly, freedom of speech should be upheld above all other rights. I disagree when it comes to hate speech as categorised in YouTube's own rules. YouTube really needs to make more of an effort to moderate debate on its pages. There's no stopping stupid thugs making unpleasant videos like this but YouTube should be checking the content that gets uploaded to its site.

Comments

9 Responses to “YouTube: racism and homophobia are OK”

lofi on March 18th, 2007 1:31 am

i'm never offended by comments on youtube, even ones containing 'hate speech'. I think its good to know what people are thinking. Telling people they can't think or say particular things seems odd to me.

I also don't understand YouTube censoring cunt - is this true of the over 18 section also?

The last video you link to is also quite funny, the guy being harassed seems amused himself at one point. The guy doing the harrassing comes off as a wanker, but again I don't see that as a reason for censorship (otherwise you'd have to ban a lot of content of most tv shows
Nick on March 19th, 2007 1:23 am

Its a good point you make. Why on earth do YouTube ban hate videos when they don't ban hateful comments?

I guess YouTube would argue its simply a matter of volume - it would be very hard to monitor the thousands of videos uploaded daily although they could surely put in a filter for certain keywords in the comments.

I think if you start introducing censorship into any part of the internet though its a bit dangerous. I think the only thing you can do to people that believe that filth is to try and reason with them its wrong.

Anyway, thanks for linking to that Shabba clip. What that clip didn't show is the end of the interview where Shabba Ranks rejects Mark Lamar's protestations saying, "Me shoot dem all wit mi elefant riiifle."

I couldn't work out what some of the comments left on that video meant either, especially this one:

"Well after mi listen to it, mi tek dat rite back. Whe di freedom a speech fi people fi real?? Yuh cyan disagree wid gay livity now? Di whole world dun fuk up, evrybaddi gaan a hell….Shabba…mi lose offa yuh tuh rahtid *chupse*"
Deena on April 14th, 2007 7:16 am

I was getting irritated at all the racist commentry on yt, so I googled for this specifically and found this.

"YouTube really needs to make more of an effort to moderate debate on its pages. "
Agree 100%
Igor The Troll on December 8th, 2007 6:41 am

Dear BadRash you might be interested in this.

http://getsatisfaction.com/google/topics/youtube_emergecy_racism

When I reported, Racism to Muslims in an anti muslim video by a YouTuber, to YouTube,

This was the reply by Kathleen Fitzgerald YouTube community manager
"Hi Igor,

We've been unable to identify a Community Guidelines violation ( http://www.youtube.com/t/community_guidelines )"
racismreview.com » Blog Archive » “Post Your Comment Here”: Cyber Racism on June 18th, 2008 4:22 pm

[...] sort of cyber racism seems particularly pronounced at YouTube, the popular video sharing site, as this blogger notes. In a recent Sociology honors thesis submitted for his degree at UC-Berkeley, undergraduate Albert [...]
Ryan on November 9th, 2008 1:28 am

I couldn't agree with you more. What is disheartening is that the situation has devolved further in light of recent events concerning the election of a black man for president. I've written a post about someone posting death threats against Barack Obama on youtube here:

http://www.ryanbruce.org/2008/11/06/the-racist-death-mongering-citizenry-of-youtube/
Ryan on November 19th, 2008 4:07 am

Another problem is that people can have multiple accounts, lie about their age and get access to inappropriate videos. And I do agree with you on this whole situation of moderating the situation but it is difficult for youtube, (they brought this upon themselves) because ANYONE in the WORLD who has access to youtube can upload a video, or comment with 'hate speech.'Also the ban of an account for this hate speech is quickly turned around by a fraud account. I'm afraid youtube must undergo a lot of work to solve this problem, maybe even "restart" the system in a way. But it'll take some convincing…
Tom on November 19th, 2008 9:31 am

@ Ryan - thanks for your comments. I agree with what you've said: it will be difficult for Google to fix this broken system. But they should fix it, and they are Google.
Demex on November 23rd, 2008 10:26 pm

You must understand that the more they moderate the more people they will lose to other websites. They know this and as such take a lenient approach and leave the moderation up the community. This means that the majority rules and that racism, sexism, etc run rampant. They start blocking users that means less videos on youtube and more on another site meaning less visitors and a stronger competitor.