YouTube to warn users before they post potentially offensive comments

YouTube is launching a new feature that will warn users before they post comments that may potentially be seen as offensive in a bid to curb hate speech on its platform.

“To encourage respectful conversations on YouTube, we’re launching a new feature that will warn users when their comment may be offensive to others, giving them the option to reflect before posting,” YouTube announced in a blog post.

The feature is part of YouTube’s broader efforts to combat hate speech on the platform and make it more inclusive, the company said in its announcement.

Apart from this new feature, YouTube will also be testing a new filter in YouTube Studio that will allow creators to weed out potentially inappropriate and hurtful comments that have been automatically held for review. This filter will give creators a choice to never have to read such statements if they don’t want to.

“We’ll also be streamlining the comment moderation tools to make this process even easier for creators,” YouTube said.

“We’ve also invested in technology that helps our systems better detect and remove hateful comments by taking into account the topic of the video and the context of a comment,” it said.

The video platform has increased the number of hate speech comments it removes from the platform by 46 times since early 2019, it said. Out of more than 1.8 million channels that YouTube had terminated last quarter for violating its policies, more than 54,000 terminations were for hate speech, it said.

Launching of survey

Apart from this, YouTube will also be launching a survey in 2021 to get more information about creators and create equal opportunities for them, it said.

“Starting in 2021, YouTube will ask creators volantarily to provide us with their gender, sexual orientation, race and ethnicity,” it said.

“We’ll then look closely at how content from different communities is treated in our search and discovery and monetization systems. We’ll also be looking for possible patterns of hate, harassment, and discrimination that may affect some communities more than others,” it said.

“This survey will be an additional way for creators to participate in initiatives that YouTube hosts, like #YouTubeBlack creator gatherings and FanFest, if they’re interested,” it added.

The survey will launch initially in the United States in early 2021.