Lesbian website After Ellen accuses YouTube of allowing large numbers of lesbian scenes, such as women kissing on ‘The L Word,’ to be ‘flagged’ as inappropriate content.
Homophobes in cyberspace? Lesbian website accuses YouTube of bias
A
lesbian
website
is
accusing
popular
YouTube
of
anti-gay
discrimination,
claiming
the
online
video
site
tolerates
regular
viewer
“flagging”
of
lesbian
content
as
“inappropriate.”
“Despite
being
a
great
resource
for
LGBT
viewers,
YouTube
also
offers
these
users
constant
reminders
that
lesbians
and
gays
are
not
an
entirely
accepted
part
of
American
society,
thanks
to
a
feature
known
as
‘flagging,’”
contributing
writer
Ellen
Seidler
charged
in
a
Jan.
8
article
on
AfterEllen.com,
a
website
offering
“news,
reviews
and
commentary
on
lesbian
and
bisexual
women
in
entertainment
and
the
media.”
“What
this
translates
to
in
the
anonymous
world
of
the
internet
is
that
anybody
who
sees
a
video
he
or
she
doesn’t
like
can
‘flag
it’
for
inappropriate
content,”
she
wrote.
Seidler
could
not
be
reached
for
comment
by
press
time.
A
search
on
YouTube
reveals
that
visitors
have
requested
videos
showing
a
lesbian
couple
preparing
to
kiss,
discussing
raising
children
together
as
well
as
an
episode
of
the
Showtime
series
“The
L
Word”
be
removed
from
the
website.
But
Seidler
notes
in
her
story
that
a
near-kiss
between
a
heterosexual
couple
on
“The
O.C.”
is
not
flagged
and
neither
is
a
sexy
heterosexual
kiss
from
the
movie
“The
Notebook.”
In
response
to
questions
from
Southern
Voice
about
AfterEllen’s
charges,
YouTube
issued
a
written
statement
almost
identical
to
a
statement
the
company
issued
to
the
lesbian
website
for
its
Jan.
8
story.
“Our
policy
prohibits
inappropriate
content
on
YouTube,
and
it
is
our
community
that
polices
the
site
for
inappropriate
material,”
said
YouTube
spokesperson
Jenny
Nielsen
in
the
prepared
statement.
“The
fact
is
we
don’t
control
the
content
on
our
site.
Our
community
decides
what
content
rises
up,
and
also
flags
content
that
is
inappropriate.”
ACCORDING
TO
YouTube’s
terms
of
use
policy,
company
officials
later
review
flagged
videos.
If
they
violate
policy,
they’re
permanently
removed
from
the
website.
The
policy
states,
in
part,
that
videos
deemed
“unlawful,
obscene,
defamatory,
libelous,
threatening,
pornographic,
harassing,
hateful,
racially
or
ethnically
offensive,
or
encourages
conduct
that
would
be
considered
a
criminal
offense,
give
rise
to
civil
liability,
violate
any
law,
or
is
otherwise
inappropriate”
are
prohibited
from
being
posted.
Seidler
said
some
videos
are
unfairly
flagged
solely
because
they
depict
lesbians.
“The
repeated
flagging
of
LGBT
content
regardless
of
its
level
of
sexual
explicitness,
and
YouTube’s
tolerance
of
this
flagging,
suggests
a
clear
bias,”
she
wrote.
Nielsen
denied
the
accusation.
“Thousands
of
videos
are
flagged
each
day,
and
though
we
don’t
break
down
specific
metrics
regarding
what
content
is
flagged,
the
assumption
that
LGBT
content
is
routinely
subject
to
flagging
by
users,
while
similar
content
depicting
straight
characters/individuals
does
not
get
flagged,
seems
anecdotal
and
is
not
supported
by
what
we
observe
on
the
site,”
Nielsen
said.
JUST
ENTERING
the
words
“lesbians,”
“lesbian
kiss,”
and
“lesbian
films”
into
YouTube’s
database
of
videos,
to
which
65,000
are
uploaded
daily,
brings
up
a
disclaimer
warning
visitors:
“This
video
may
contain
content
that
is
inappropriate
for
some
users,
as
flagged
by
YouTube’s
user
community.”
However,
users
have
not
flagged
at
least
one
video
with
lesbian
content.
It
shows
a
collage
of
scenes
from
different
lesbian-themed
movies
and
television
shows
with
two
women
passionately
kissing
and
embracing
one
another.
Nielsen
said
YouTube’s
current
policy
is
effective
and
doesn’t
need
amending.
“Community
policing
is
very
effective
in
open
communities
such
as
ours
similar
to
the
model
created
by
eBay,
Amazon.com
and
Craig’s
List,”
she
said.
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