Latest news with #CenterForCounteringDigitalHate
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Yahoo
YouTube profits from Andrew Tate content despite banning him from platform
YouTube still profits from Andrew Tate, despite banning him from their platform, new research has revealed. The Center for Countering Digital Hate has found that videos of the self-described misogynist are still amassing millions of views on YouTube, where they feature profit-generating adverts and are easily accessible to viewers as young as 13 years old. Tate, who currently faces multiple charges for rape and human trafficking in the UK, continues to be propelled by guest appearances on podcasts and fan-made videos on the platform despite being banned since 2022. The organisation identified that 100 of the most-viewed YouTube videos of the manosphere influencer, which promoted misogyny and were posted over the last year, racked up a total of nearly 54 million views. Two-thirds of these videos were made by Andrew Tate 'fan accounts'. Over half of these videos violated YouTube's policies on hate speech, and nearly a third violated YouTube's policies while carrying adverts from big brands, the research said. All of these videos were accessible to viewers aged 13 and over in the UK and US, while 98 of them were viewable to those of the same age group in Ireland and Germany. These clips were made widely accessible as YouTube had auto-translated captions into multiple languages for 97 of them. Researchers found both in-stream and in-feed adverts from big brands such as Hyundai and Olay served next to or on videos, which featured Tate promoting misogynistic claims and breaching the video-sharing platform's hate speech guidelines. This is despite YouTube's policy that channels seeking monetisation follow platform Community Guidelines, including policies on hate speech. In one video, where Tate said of women 'You want her to submit - become someone she wants to follow. You want her loyalty - build a life she doesn't want to lose', an advert from Lavazza featured in-feed, as a thumbnail next to video content. While in-stream adverts play before, during or after videos and can be skipped, in-feed video adverts appear as thumbnails next to video content. There is no suggestion brands agreed to have their advertisements displayed next to content featuring Tate. YouTube originally banned Tate from the platform after his content was found in violation of its policies. Researchers found that 58 of the videos surveyed clearly violated the hate speech policy, which stipulates that they won't allow 'content that promotes violence or hatred against individuals or groups based on [...] attributes' such as sex or gender, including slurs and stereotypes. While the remaining videos didn't violate the guidelines, they did all include overt misogyny, the organisation said. Imran Ahmed, chief executive of the Center for Countering Digital Hate, warned that YouTube had created a system that profits off Tate's 'dangerous persona while benefitting from the illusion that his content is banned' despite recognising that the controversial figure consistently violates their own rules. 'The platform does not appear to be taking action to address this predictable tactic for keeping Tate's misogynistic messaging in the limelight and in the feeds of 13-year-old kids. Instead, YouTube is reportedly rolling back content moderation policies, making the platform even less safe for its users.' He called on UK and EU regulators to intervene and hold tech giants accountable as they 'knowingly profit from the spread of hate and harm.' A YouTube spokesperson told The Independent: 'Andrew Tate's channels were terminated in 2022. Since then, we've removed hundreds of thousands of videos and terminated thousands of channels that have attempted to circumvent that original decision. 'But as with all terminated users, not all content that features Andrew Tate will be removed. Only 11 videos from the CCDH report were shared with us to review - the majority have been removed for violating our Terms of Service, and we've terminated a number of the featured channels.' Andrew and his brother Tristan have denied a total of 21 charges of rape and human trafficking between them authorised by the Crown Prosecution Service. A European arrest warrant was issued for the brothers in 2024, but ongoing criminal matters in Romania have taken priority. The pair are due to be extradited to the UK following the conclusion of proceedings in Romania.
The Independent
2 days ago
- The Independent
YouTube profits from Andrew Tate content despite banning him from platform
YouTube still profits from Andrew Tate, despite banning him from their platform, new research has revealed. The Center for Countering Digital Hate has found that videos of the self-described misogynist are still amassing millions of views on YouTube, where they feature profit-generating adverts and are easily accessible to viewers as young as 13 years old. Tate, who currently faces multiple charges for rape and human trafficking in the UK, continues to be propelled by guest appearances on podcasts and fan-made videos on the platform despite being banned since 2022. The organisation identified that 100 of the most-viewed YouTube videos of the manosphere influencer, which promoted misogyny and were posted over the last year, racked up a total of nearly 54 million views. Two-thirds of these videos were made by Andrew Tate 'fan accounts'. Over half of these videos violated YouTube's policies on hate speech, and nearly a third violated YouTube's policies while carrying adverts from big brands, the research said. All of these videos were accessible to viewers aged 13 and over in the UK and US, while 98 of them were viewable to those of the same age group in Ireland and Germany. These clips were made widely accessible as YouTube had auto-translated captions into multiple languages for 97 of them. Researchers found both in-stream and in-feed adverts from big brands such as Hyundai and Olay served next to or on videos, which featured Tate promoting misogynistic claims and breaching the video-sharing platform's hate speech guidelines. This is despite YouTube's policy that channels seeking monetisation follow platform Community Guidelines, including policies on hate speech. In one video, where Tate said of women 'You want her to submit - become someone she wants to follow. You want her loyalty - build a life she doesn't want to lose', an advert from Lavazza featured in-feed, as a thumbnail next to video content. While in-stream adverts play before, during or after videos and can be skipped, in-feed video adverts appear as thumbnails next to video content. There is no suggestion brands agreed to have their advertisements displayed next to content featuring Tate. YouTube originally banned Tate from the platform after his content was found in violation of its policies. Researchers found that 58 of the videos surveyed clearly violated the hate speech policy, which stipulates that they won't allow 'content that promotes violence or hatred against individuals or groups based on [...] attributes' such as sex or gender, including slurs and stereotypes. While the remaining videos didn't violate the guidelines, they did all include overt misogyny, the organisation said. Imran Ahmed, chief executive of the Center for Countering Digital Hate, warned that YouTube had created a system that profits off Tate's 'dangerous persona while benefitting from the illusion that his content is banned' despite recognising that the controversial figure consistently violates their own rules. 'The platform does not appear to be taking action to address this predictable tactic for keeping Tate's misogynistic messaging in the limelight and in the feeds of 13-year-old kids. Instead, YouTube is reportedly rolling back content moderation policies, making the platform even less safe for its users.' He called on UK and EU regulators to intervene and hold tech giants accountable as they 'knowingly profit from the spread of hate and harm.' A YouTube spokesperson told The Independen t: 'Andrew Tate's channels were terminated in 2022. Since then, we've removed hundreds of thousands of videos and terminated thousands of channels that have attempted to circumvent that original decision. 'But as with all terminated users, not all content that features Andrew Tate will be removed. Only 11 videos from the CCDH report were shared with us to review - the majority have been removed for violating our Terms of Service, and we've terminated a number of the featured channels.' Andrew and his brother Tristan have denied a total of 21 charges of rape and human trafficking between them authorised by the Crown Prosecution Service. A European arrest warrant was issued for the brothers in 2024, but ongoing criminal matters in Romania have taken priority.
CBC
15-05-2025
- Entertainment
- CBC
Ye's song praising Hitler was pulled from most online platforms. Are they doing enough?
When controversial rapper Ye's new song praising Adolf Hitler was posted on social media platforms and music streaming services last week, most removed the antisemitic track within days. But some experts say these companies are not fast enough to respond or not doing enough to prevent the posting of hateful content — which, in the case of the song by the hip-hop artist formerly known as Kanye West, had already been viewed and listened to by millions. Vlad Khaykin, with the Simon Wiesenthal Center, says tech companies are "falling down on the job" of protecting the public from hate, incitement, harassment and intimidation. "In this specific case, many of these platforms did take action to remove this from their platform. But the truth is it should have never had a presence on those sites in the first place," said Khaykin, who is the human rights organization's executive vice-president of social impact and partnerships for North America. Imran Ahmed, CEO of the Center for Countering Digital Hate, agrees that these tech companies are not taking the most basic, common sense approach to systemically deal with content by "hate actors." Ye praises Hitler, Nazis in livestream interview 2 years ago Duration 2:08 "There are so many things that they could be doing," he said, whether hiring staff to specifically search for such hateful content or some more "sophisticated technological solution." "They could use the same tools that they used to identify copyrighted content." The companies are not transparent about what if any methods they use, he says. "I can't tell you whether or not there are people who are searching for the content." Ye's song and video for Heil Hitler, which glorifies the Nazi leader and includes a sample from a Hitler speech, was removed from a number of streaming platforms, but remains on Elon Musk's social media platform X. It is just the latest antisemitic messaging by Ye, whose X account has been deactivated and reactivated over the past few years because of such posts. This past February, it was deactivated following posts which included Ye declaring himself a Nazi and saying "I love Hitler." But he was soon back on X, where his Heil Hitler (Hooligan Version) video is now nearing 10 million views. Jim Berk, CEO of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, called out X for allowing the song — saying in a statement it had become Ye's "partner in spreading vitriol against Jews" — and for allowing a "flagrant violation of its own rules." "We call on X to remove West from its platform and for other platforms and distributors to refuse to host or monetize this song," he said. "There must be a clear line when it comes to glorification of genocidal regimes, particularly to millions of young people." Neither X nor Musk have responded publicly to these complaints. But a number of other tech platforms say they've pulled Ye's song. A spokeswoman for SoundCloud, said in an email to CBC News that the audio streaming platform had taken steps to remove nearly 400 versions of Heil Hitler. YouTube says it removed the song and will continue to take down re-uploads, while Reddit says it has been removing the song and "any celebration of its message." Although Spotify did not respond, NBC reported that it also seemed to have removed the song from its platform. WATCH | How should we treat Kanye West? Certain tools to ID hateful content However, Khaykin, from the Simon Wiesenthal Center, says we're in an age of technology when certain tools, like AI, can identify problematic content before it is added to a platform. In its annual Digital Terrorism and Hate Report Card, the centre rates how well major digital platforms combat online hate, antisemitism and extremism. The criteria includes how fast a platform removes such content once reported, and whether they have transparency reports with specific data on hate/terrorist content removals. But the centre gave low grades to most of those platforms in its 2025 report — TikTok got a C, Spotify got a C-, and Cs also went to both Google/YouTube and Facebook/Instagram. "It's not really, I think, a matter of capability," Khaykin said. "It's really a matter of will. Does there exist the will to actually, seriously do something about it? And unfortunately, sometimes the will to do the right thing, it bumps up against the profit motive." Ahmed, with the Center for Countering Digital Hate, also questions the companies' priorities. "It's worth remembering that these platforms, if you try and upload a few seconds of a copyrighted piece of music, it will be down in a heartbeat," he said. "But they somehow seem incapable of taking action against a piece of content that glorifies in the murder of millions of Jews." "They seem to be placing less concern about that than they do about someone stealing three seconds of a Taylor Swift song."
