After moderation bot's doing things like including suicide instructions in a children's video, they are now doing horror videos as well. This is against the will of the creator. The creator of the video won't be allowed to restore its rating after it was found to be for children.
There is a video from Local58TV. The creator, Kirs Straub, checked his account over the weekend and found that his not-for- kids content had been marked for kids.
congrats @youtube on the decision to auto-designate @LOCAL58TV’s “show for children” as FOR KIDS despite my having set it as inappropriate for kids. i also can’t change it voluntarily without an *appeal* pic.twitter.com/dnhmzL9hbi
— Kris Straub (@krisstraub) July 5, 2022
"For kids" means that a video has been flagged for inclusion in the "YouTube Kids" app, which is a separate interface for YouTube that is supposed to only show a "safe" portion of the site. The "Kids" flag means the video must comply with the COPPA, so comments are turned off.
Local58TV has millions of views across its nine videos and is famous enough to have a Wikipedia page. The channel's about page describes itself as "ANALOG HORROR AT 476 MHz. Unsettling shorts in the found footage/VHS aesthetic from Kris Straub." The channel's most popular video, "Contingency," is a faux public service announcement from the "US Department for the Preservation of American Dignity." The message, set to an ultra-creepy rendition of The Star-Spangled Banner, declares that America has lost the war and was forced to surrender. Before the occupiers arrive though, you can "take America with you" by murder/suiciding your family. The video continues with instructions. This is obviously not the type of channel that is for kids!
Local58TV doesn't get the vibe from the video sharing website. The show for children was flagged. You can see how an artificial intelligence bot could get its wires crossed from that title, but it immediately says "Not for Children" in the description, and the creator originally set the video's age rating as "18+".
AdvertisementA cute cartoon skeleton wanders around a graveyard looking for a cute cartoon girlfriend skeleton, only to find more realistic skeletons and other creatures in the open graves. The cute skeleton at the end of the video dies and becomes a realistic skeleton. A human could tell that the video is not kid-friendly by looking at the cartoon. It's not hurting for money because it doesn't hire a lot of human moderators, but it is.
The creator of the video will not be allowed to change it back after it was flagged as inappropriate for kids. The video's age rating has been changed to "Made for kids" and the video's content is now labeled as "made for kids"
It doesn't make sense for YouTube to be in this position if you're usingrobots for moderation. If a video is kid-friendly, it's uploaded to the site. It's not clear why it would ever try to automatically categorize videos since it already has this data. For something as delicate and subjective as whether or not certain content should be viewed by a child, it seems like it's better for the internet giant to be cautious.
At press time, the issue hasn't been fixed. Nine hours ago, the account said it was looking into the complaint. The video is still flagged for children because of the disabled comments section and the ad at the bottom. You only get suggestions for other " kids" content, which, at a glance, does not seem to feature as much death as Local58TV content.
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