What is the world (and youtube) coming to?

J

Just an ordinary Joe Soap

New Member
It seems that Orwell was right after all.

I have received two emails from “The Youtube Team” concerning one of my videos. These appear to be standard wordings and state that:

  1. the video was flagged by “The Youtube Community” and, having reviewed it, restrictions have been placed on how it will be shown. They go on to say that youtube doesn’t allow hate speech etc. However, the video remains up but with a “warning” before it is run.
  2. Youtube also says it has received a “legal complaint” and the video has been blocked in a list of various countries including European countries and “Saint Pierre and Miquelon” in order to comply with “local laws” but not in the US.

The video is also deemed “ineligible for monetisation” – something I have zero interest in anyway.

So, I hear you ask, what was in this video that promotes such hate?

This is a video I uploaded 18 months ago. I have a good friend who loves German Marching songs and, as a longtime aviation enthusiast, he is besotted with the Douglas DC3 aircraft and travels extensively to see those that still remain in use today. For his birthday I decided to compose a fun, crazy song that takes in both of these interests and uploaded it to my youtube channel as an UNLISTED item (with no description or tags) and only 8 views because it was intended for him and his family only.

I forgot about it afterwards so it has been sitting there all this time among all of the other billions of videos on youtube.

The song was a specially composed one by me of German soldiers singing a marching song to Herr Hitler that they would only agree to go to the Front if their transport was guaranteed to be a Douglas DC3.

So, somewhere among the “youtube community” there is someone who was able to find this “unlisted video with no description or tags”, deem it to be a hate video, flag it and make a legal complaint and youtube appears to agree it is “potentially offensive”.

I was given an opportunity to appeal but I didn’t do so as the video is not Public in any event. I just deleted it.

You have been warned.
 
I wonder if its the AI that has flagged it and then someone has reviewed it, with it being unlisted then surely only a few people will have seen it but I doubt they would report it.
 
I don't know what is in the video that would cause a flagging but since people cheat with their title, tags and descriptions, YouTube had to create ways to audit videos. They scan the video for actual spoken language transcriptions, text put on screen or in the video, items scanned and recognized in the video and try to come up with the real context of the video.

They can obviously make wrong determinations if they miss subtle context.
 
Yeah, I doubt a non-YouTube employee found it manually since it was unlisted. That'll be a YouTube bot that has found it based on certain keywords and AI.

The context you gave is important and YT does recommend you put relevant context in the meta data in case a video gets flagged and needs a manual review:


****
The importance of context
Context is very important for all videos, but it's particularly important when posting graphic content. Content that is educational, scientific, newsworthy or a documentary may often contain graphic content. This type of content is allowed on YouTube if it includes context. Adding details explaining your video helps users find and understand your content. It also helps the YouTube team review your video if it gets flagged.
For example, a video posted by a citizen journalist capturing footage of protesters being beaten would probably be allowed if it includes relevant context. In this example, relevant information could be a list of tips at the beginning of the video on how to stay safe when at a protest, or a voiceover narration about the protest's history. The video should also have a clear title or description indicating that it is reporting on or documenting the content.

***

Click for more information: https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/6345162?hl=en-GB&ref_topic=2803176
 
I appreciate the replies, many thanks.

Yeah, I doubt a non-YouTube employee found it manually since it was unlisted. That'll be a YouTube bot that has found it based on certain keywords and AI.

I don’t think any bots or AI apply here.

As I have said above, Youtube states to me that they have actually received a “legal complaint regarding the video” and that, after review, it has been restricted and also blocked in certain countries.

That can only mean that a person or persons managed to see an Unlisted no-tags video lying dormant for the past 18 months, took it as being offensive, and, consequently, issued a legal complaint to youtube.

It also means that, on receipt of the complaint, some person or persons who work for youtube actually looked at the video and came to a decision that a joke song about German WW2 soldiers refusing to go to the Front except by Douglas DC3 is somehow controversial, offensive or whatever.

That is why I chose the title of this thread to be "What is the World (and youtube) coming to? Utter madness.
 
...and it could just as easily been a mistake (something that does occasionally happen), but, by refusing to appeal and (worse) deleted the video, you'll never know.
 
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