#Media Issues
Target:
Youtube
Region:
GLOBAL

Youtube is globally known as a platform for entertainment, fun and information. What most people do not realize is, that there are masses of extremely cruel videos such as videos of execution. These videos are in most cases neither censored nor blocked for users under 18 years. And even if they are blocked, the preview pictures are usually disturbing enough.

Here are some numbers that you find on youtube when you search for these keywords:
"execution": 1.320.000 videos, 48.200 channels, 77.000 playlists
"beheading": 142.000 videos, 2.160 channels, 11.300 playlists
"decapitation": 138.000 videos, 2.590 channels, 17.200 playlists

Of course we have to keep in mind that some results have documental background, some are obvious jokes and some might not even be connected to the subject at all. But the biggest percentage shows the cruel reality of what is going on in some parts of this world. It is not only about people being who were sentenced to death by the law. It is also about public hangings of gay people, the decapitation of women and the shooting of people with a different religion.

Sure, some of you might say, that it's your own fault if you type in those keywords, but please keep this in mind:

1) What if you just search for facts about a recent event or if you make a research about execution methods in a certain century? Do you really want to see the preview pictures of bloody corpses?

2) Think of the younger people - kids and teenagers often search for things out of pure curiosity or because someone else saw the video and told them "it's a fake" and they want to check it out. These kids do not really understand what they might bringt up with a search like that! And once they see these disturbing pictures they can not be made "unseen".

We, the undersigned, call on the company "YouTube LLC" to find a REAL solution to keep their platform clean!

Possible solutions could be:
- block videos with certain keywords from being uploaded;
- force people to pick an age rating when they upload videos and do not hide that option like you do now. If a user picks a wrong rating he should get a one time warning. After the second video with wrong rating the account should be blocked.
- let every video with certain keywords be reviewed by the people of YouTube;
- if a video is rated 18+ it should have no preview picture but the rating logo instead;
- take complaints about videos more serious and react within 24 hours.

There certainly are lots of other ways to deal with this, but it's a fact that there is NO SPACE for videos with such content on a platform that is most known for entertainment, tutorials and funny animal videos!

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The Stop Execution Videos On Youtube Now petition to Youtube was written by Sandra Folte and is in the category Media Issues at GoPetition.