Published , by Asif Khan
Published , by Asif Khan
Epic Games is not afraid of taking principled stands, and this has been increasingly apparent with the increased clout they have gained with the success of Fortnite. Today, the company announced that they will be pausing advertising on YouTube following reports of a pedophile network actively engaging the comments section of monetized videos.
Epic Games is joined by Disney and Nestle is their decision to pause ads on YouTube. Reports circulating across the Internet today describe a disturbing and seemingly coordinated effort by pedophiles to target videos featuring children. Many times, family videos posted to YouTube may feature a child without all of their clothing on. These comments are frequently nothing more than timestamps that direct other viewers to moments of child nudity in videos.
There are further details of videos of young girls playing Twister, engaging in gymnastics, eating popsicles, or playing in a pool that are being attacked by a horde of these degenerates. Time codes of crotch shots, soliciting exchanges of phone numbers, and promises to swap videos on other platforms (Snapchat, Whatsapp, Kik) are all being reported by YouTube users.
A spokesperson for Fortnite developer Epic Games detailed the decision to pause all pre-roll YouTube advertising saying, “through our advertising agency, we have reached out to YouTube to determine actions they’ll take to eliminate this type of content from their service.”
YouTube declined to comment on any specific advertisers, but did state that, "any content — including comments — that endangers minors is abhorrent and we have clear policies prohibiting this on YouTube. We took immediate action by deleting accounts and channels, reporting illegal activity to authorities and disabling violative comments."
It is important to understand that the content creators involved in this are not the people at fault. YouTube comments are not known for their moderation, and these reports are a fine example of the challenges Google faces as the platform becomes more influential in the world of marketing and advertisment.