Tag: YouTube

Children exposed to horror film ads on YouTube

Dianne Jacobs

Children were left distressed after seeing ads for a horror film on YouTube, the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has revealed. Three parents contacted the ASA after their children saw ads for Insidious: The Last Key – rated 15 in the UK. One ad for the film was shown before videos of songs from Frozen, instructions for building a Lego fire station and a clip from the cartoon PJ Masks. The ASA has upheld the complaints. In a second ad, the ASA said a young woman was seen “lying on a…

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YouTube adds a new section for displaying additional credits for songs

Dianne Jacobs

YouTube will now provide additional information for songs with a section called “music in this video,” found within the “show more” area that can be expanded underneath videos. The new “music in this video” section will be available on over half a billion videos, and it will provide a more in-depth look at the credits associated with a song. For example in  for Camila Cabello’s “Havana,” the “music in this video” section shows all the contributing artists (in this case, Young Thug), the songwriters involved, the labels and publishers who…

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YouTube introduces ‘take a break’ notifications for your digital well-being

Dianne Jacobs

When Android P is released this summer, it will bring with it a new Dashboard designed to clearly show the amount of time we’re spending on our phones. You’ll see a breakdown that includes the number of times you’ve unlocked your device, a tally of notifications, and details on how much time you’re spending in individual apps. This all stems from Google’s focus on digital well-being that the company announced at I/O 2018 this week. But YouTube isn’t waiting for Android P to introduce some helpful features. Just as Sundar…

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YouTube Pulls Down Hundreds of Videos that Promoted a Homework Cheating Site

Dianne Jacobs

Hundreds of YouTube channels have had their videos removed from the site following a BBC investigation that found the widespread promotion of an essay-writing service as a way for students to cheat at school. Last week, the BBC published an investigation which found that more than 250 channels had promoted a Ukranian company called EduBirdie, which sells essays to desperate students. The company says that its services are useful for “research into the subject, generating initial input for for further reasoning and citations…paraphrasing in accordance with major educational standards as…

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Facebook calls out Google, Amazon and Twitter for also harvesting user data

Dianne Jacobs

Facebook wants users to know that it’s not the only one tracking their every move on the internet. The social media giant pointed a finger at Google, Amazon, Twitter and other platforms for using many of the same data collection practices that some privacy advocates are referring to as invasive. In a blog post published Monday, the firm described in depth all the ways it gathers information on you around the web — even if you’re not a Facebook member or are logged out of your account. Facebook has been…

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YouTube bans ‘hateful’ videos from making money

Dianne Jacobs

YouTube has announced tougher guidelines on hate content in videos, strengthening its response to three categories. Following a backlash around brand advertising on controversial content, the social media platform is making a move to clean up which videos are part of its ad network. It first promised to take action in March, ensuring that hateful content cannot be monetized. The move was in response to an ad boycott after major brands found their ads embedded in – or appearing alongside – offensive videos. The Google-owned platform has updated the guidelines that govern…

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Tim Wu,The Father of Net Neutrality Returns to Do Battle With Comcast

Staff Writer

Tim Wu saw firsthand how people can mess with the internet. Fifteen years ago, he landed a marketing job with a network equipment maker called Riverstone Networks. Riverstone made network routers, among other things, and it sold many of these to Chinese internet service providers who then used them to block traffic on their networks. After about a year, he left Riverstone, disillusioned but wiser. And today, Wu says that the time he spent there helped cement the idea that has made him famous: net neutrality. First proposed in a…

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