YouTube Announces New Steps to Combat Online Abuse and Extremism

YouTube announced in a lengthy blog post Monday that the platform will be expanding its efforts to stop rampant abuse, including the posting of violent and extremist content. 

According to CEO Susan Wojcicki, YouTube acknowledges more work needs to be done. "I’ve seen how some bad actors are exploiting our openness to mislead, manipulate, harass or even harm," she writes.

"Machine learning" is considered a key tool for removing violent extremist content, identifying 98 percent of the reported 150,000 now-removed videos and flagging "content that would have taken 180,000 people working 40 hours a week to assess."

But Wojcicki states that an increased review presence is necessary, so YouTube will ramp up the human team.

"We will continue the significant growth of our teams into next year, with the goal of bringing the total number of people across Google working to address content that might violate our policies to over 10,000 in 2018," she explains.

YouTube will also be making changes to its advertising platform amid problems stemming from advertisements inadvertently appearing alongside inappropriate content.

Wojcicki promises increased transparency as YouTube evolves, including the implementation of a regular public report in 2018. 

"We will take the steps necessary to protect our community and ensure that YouTube continues to be a place where creators, advertisers, and viewers can thrive."