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YouTube bans pranks and ‘dangerous Bird Box challenge’ – and promises to crack down on bestiality
It follows a string of injuries and deaths as desperate millennials attempt to go viral
YOUTUBE has banned "dangerous" prank videos and once again promised to delete sickening bestiality images plastered across its website.
The move comes following a spate of bizarre injuries and deaths caused by people recording themselves pulling risky stunts, such as eating detergent pods or driving while blindfolded, in a bid to go viral.
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YouTube said such clips have "no place" on its platform, and has already begun deleting older videos that break its new rules on pranks and challenges.
However, the Google-owned firm is already failing to take down bestiality from its site more than a year after it pledged to crack down on the sick images.
In April 2018, YouTube said bestiality images "are abhorrent to us and have no place on YouTube."
Yet a new investigation from shows the site is still infested with pics showing, or alluding to, bestiality.
Sick videos, some of which have millions of views, and are advertised with thumbnails that show girls playing with horses with erect penises, or women being mounted by dogs.
YouTube said it “worked to aggressively enforce our monetisation policies to eliminate the incentive for this abuse”.
In a statement, YouTube also promised to crack down on both prank and challenge videos that "present a risk of serious danger or death".
“YouTube is home to many beloved viral challenges and pranks,” a new policy on the dangerous trend reads.
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"We need to make sure what’s funny doesn’t cross the line into also being harmful or dangerous."
In a statement, the site said it is banning the upload of videos that present a serious risk of danger or death, as well as clips that cause children “emotional distress”.
It is also blocking pranks that make victims believe they are in serious danger, even if they aren't, such as fake abductions, bank robberies or suicides.
YouTube said the material has "no place" on its platform, and has already begun deleting older videos that break the new rules.
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A spokesperson added: "YouTube has long prohibited videos which promote harmful or dangerous activities and we routinely review and update our enforcement guidelines to make sure they’re consistent and appropriately address emerging trends.
"We heard feedback from creators that we could provide some clarity on certain Community Guidelines, so we published materials detailing our policies against pranks that cause others to seriously fear for their safety or that cause serious emotional distress to children and vulnerable individuals."
In response to the site's changes, children's charity NSPCC called for an independent regulator to police online content.
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Tony Stower, NSPCC Head of Child Safety Online, said: "Over and over again YouTube has claimed they will do more to protect children from disturbing videos and yet we appear to find ourselves in the same situation where it can be all too easy for young people to find inappropriate content.
"Tech giants have a responsibility to protect children on their platforms. YouTube have committed to cleaning up their site and banning videos that violate their policies but it’s no good just saying it; they need to act on it.
"This is precisely why the NSPCC’s Wild West Web campaign is calling on Government to introduce a tough independent regulator for social networks to force them to meet consistent child safety measures and hold them to account when they fail.”
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YouTube is not the only supposedly kids-friendly site profiteering from sick imagery.
The Sun revealed last July that Instagram is awash with hardcore porn videos despite being aimed at children as young as 13.
The popular image-sharing app has a strict "zero tolerance" policy on sexual content – but has failed to crack down on porn hashtags that help users find smut online.
The Sun tracked down more than a dozen different hashtags that lead directly to smut.
Typical Instagram users add innocent hashtags – like #dog or #food – to their posts, so that others can search for them more easily.
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But pervs are abusing this feature to circulate XXX photos and videos with each other.
We found hundreds of inappropriate posts in a matter of minutes, just by entering rogue hashtags easily searchable online.
Instagram deleted the offensive content we discovered, and apologised to any users exposed to the smut.
What do you think about YouTube's new rules? Let us know in the comments!
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