While NCOSE has successfully urged Google to curb exploitation on other fronts, and congratulates them for many positive changes regarding GooglePlay and AdWords, Google has remained reticent regarding changes to anything relating to the content on YouTube. While the launch of the YouTube Kids App is a step in right direction, it does not go far enough.

Together, with thousands of concerned parents and users, NCOSE urges Google to:

1. Turn Safe Search and Restricted Mode on automatically for all YouTube users, so that they have to opt-in for more graphic or adult content, instead of being automatically bombarded with sexually exploitive material.
2. Improve the ease and access of reporting videos that violate its Terms of Use.
3. Apply the same image filtering software currently used to identify child pornography to flag all forms of adult pornography or sexualized nudity as well.
4. Develop a more thorough review process for channels applying to monetize their videos.
5. Extend the AdWords policy to YouTube and refuse to profit from sexually exploitive content.
6. Update YouTube to work more efficiently with third-party filters.
7. Most importantly, we call on Google to use its creativity and immense talent to develop effective solutions for this growing problem.

Google’s current system depends largely on reactive moderating, which relies on users to flag and report offensive or sexually explicit content. Users must first watch the explicit content and then report exact times with descriptions if they wish to report it at all. YouTube prefers this method to taking responsibility upon itself to provide more active moderation and policing in real-time, because the views on explicit videos help to serve YouTube’s bottom line.

When users must act as moderators, they must first watch the explicit content and then report exact time stamps with descriptions. The main problem with this established procedure for content removal is that users must first be exposed to the harmful content and then they must continue to view the offensive material as they alert Google about the violation. Many of the explicit videos on the site have hundreds of thousands and even millions of views because Google refuses to improve this process and instead facilitates further exploitation by making their viewers their Terms of Use enforcers.

Often, the audience viewing this material is comprised of children. Pornography, and other sexually graphic material, has a profound negative impact on the development of children and exposure puts them at greater risk for falling victims of exploitation themselves.

Sexually explicit videos on YouTube often amass many views, becoming eligible for lucrative pre-roll video ads that make YouTube and the Uploading Channel lots of money.

Many innocent search terms used on YouTube will bring up hardcore and violent explicit videos because uploaders use misleading descriptions when adding the content. Certainly, Google has the ability to develop a system for analyzing the images and not just the text descriptions of uploaded content.

Another problem is that once users view an explicit video and then other videos with sexually explicit thumbnails will fill the list of suggested content on the right side of the screen, or will be listed as suggestions in the video player when finished watching the desired film. This is especially dangerous for younger audiences using YouTube.

It appears that Google is willing to let the Terms of Use slide for celebrities who upload content that is in direct violation. Beyoncé, Justin Timberlake, and Robin Thicke are just a few examples of celebrities who have amassed millions of views (and $$$ for Google) with music videos that include full frontal nudity.

Community Guidelines must apply to the entire community on YouTube, no matter how rich or famous someone might be.