YouTube has revealed it removed 8.3 million videos for violating its community guidelines between October and December 2017, as the video-sharing platform attempts to address criticism over violent and offensive content.
In its first quarterly moderation report, the Google-owned company said the majority of removed videos were spam or adult content, representing a fraction of a percent of total views during that period. Of those, 6.7 million were first flagged by automated systems, with 76% removed before receiving a single view.
The report comes amid growing pressure from governments and the EU on internet companies to tackle extremist and abusive material. YouTube has faced particular criticism over content it allows, including videos promoting conspiracy theories about the Parkland school shooting in the US.
YouTube said it is investing in both human and automated moderation, aiming to have over 10,000 people working on enforcement by the end of 2018. The company also relies on a network of 'trusted flaggers'—150 organisations with expertise in contested content—whose reports lead to 14% of removals, compared to just 5% from regular users.
