These videos have been debunked by several fact-checkers but keep surfacing online.
A bizarre deep-fake video featuring former US First Lady Hillary Clinton and her aide Huma Abedin made news a few years ago when it appeared on dark web, the part of the internet that isn’t indexed by search engines. The “snuff video” shockingly claimed to show Ms Clinton and Ms Abedin torturing a young girl. Some of these clips, part of a conspiracy theory called “Frazzledrip” on the dark web, keep appearing over the years without offering any explanation about their origin. It is again gaining traction with some handled posting content around it.
These conspiratorial videos that promote extreme views have appeared on YouTube too, due to which Sundar Pichai, the CEO of its parent company Google, had to testify before the House Committee on Judiciary of the US House of Representatives in 2018.
According to a Washington Post report, users of some of the sites popular among hate groups, link to YouTube more than any other platform.
The outlet quoted the work of Data and Society and the Network Contagion Research Institute, which track the spread of hate speech, to say that these users serve several problematic videos and conspiracy theories claiming that large numbers of leading politicians and celebrities molested children.
The senators cited the discredited Pizzagate conspiracy, which led to a man firing shots into a Northwest Washington pizzeria in search of children he believed were being held as sex slaves by Democratic Party leaders.
Though these clips were removed and debunked by fact-checkers, several outlets said dozens of such videos alleging and discussing false claims remain online.
Responding to these questions and the senators’ claims, Mr Pichai told the US Lower House that the company has made a lot of progress in removing such videos but acknowledged more work needs to be done, as per an old report in Vox.
Mr Pichai also said YouTube takes problematic videos on a case-by-case basis. “It’s our responsibility, I think, to make sure YouTube is a platform for freedom of expression, but it needs to be responsible in our society,” he told the committee.
YouTube users view a whopping 1 billion hours of video each day. That accounts for around 5 billion YouTube videos being watched each day. About 70 per cent of these views come from YouTube’s recommendations – something experts and governments all across the world want the company to address.
Click for more trending news
Hits: 0
