YouTube adds new rules to combat online violence
YouTube has added rules against online violence and harassment, specifically prohibiting content that “simulates the reality” of minors and reports of violent experiences.
YouTube's new rules are targeting a worrying trend in online violent crime content, where artificial intelligence (AI) is used to create realistic violent scenes that specifically depict abuse or violence suffered by victims, including children.
Some of the videos use children's voices to depict acts of violence that have occurred in high-profile cases. Families of the victims depicted in the videos have strongly objected to the content, calling it "abhorrent".
YouTube's new rules will prevent harmful content from appearing on public channels and limit users' experience on its platform. The measures will increase gradually depending on the level of repeat violations by channel owners.
For a first-time policy violation, YouTube will limit a user's ability to upload videos for one week. If the violation occurs again within 90 days, the penalty will increase and the channel may be deleted entirely.
Social platforms, including YouTube, have introduced AI-powered content creation tools in recent months, and with them come new rules to avoid the risk of content being created that could confuse users.
TikTok now requires creators to tag their AI content accordingly, while YouTube has announced strict rules for AI-generated musician voice transcriptions and a broader set of rules for other issues.
