Since co-founding YouTube in 2005 along with Chad Hurley and Jawed Karim, Steve Chen has seen his site go from a small avenue of the World World Web to a Google owned subsidiary which accounts for a third of all video viewed on the Internet.
So naturally, he’s a positive kind of guy, even when it comes to some of the problems associated with having over 10 hours of footage uploaded to the site every minute.
Unsavoury Clips
In recent months, YouTube has been accused of being responsible for a number of undesirable clips making their way on the Internet for all and sundry to view.
These include videos of people being bullied, and happy slapped, rape, and gratuitous violence. There is also the ongoing threat of porn finding its way through the filters.
So the question is: Should YouTube start vetting videos before they get uploaded to the site? The Sydney Morning Herald put this question to Steve Chen, and his response may surprise some.
“It’s an impossible task for us to manually go through and solve this problem through just manual labour,”
“What we’re going to have to do is rely on the millions of eyeballs from the community rather than the hundreds that we have [internally] on the site.”
Free Speech Vs Decency
In essence, no matter what horrible footage may make it’s way on to the site, Chen thinks that free speech and getting videos on the site immediately is more important than a lengthy vetting procedure.
Of course, once a video clip has been reported for possibly being offended, YouTube immediately takes action, and not only removes the clip, but bans the user responsible from doing so again. But is that enough?
Conclusions
I have mixed feelings on this issue. Part of me can see the argument for tightening the rules, and having more stringent filters to prevent this kind of material from entering the public domain.
On the other hand, what Chen says is true, and if you remove the ease and immediacy that YouTube currently offers, you kind of take away something from the fabric of the site.
It’s a fine balancing act, and one I wouldn’t particularly want to have to manage, but then again, if I were a multi-millionaire for my trouble, then maybe I would.
