YouTube's content moderation system seems to have had problems. The reason is, YouTube had labeled horror video content aimed at adults as child-friendly content.
The video in question is a horror series uploaded by the Local58TV YouTube channel. While checking his account, Local58TV creator Kris Straub noticed that his appalling content had been flagged as child-friendly by YouTube's AI moderating system.
"Congratulations @YouTube on the decision to automatically assign @LOCAL58TV's 'show for children' video as FOR CHILDREN even though I have set it as inappropriate for children," Straub wrote in a tweet on Twitter. (11/7/2022).
Content for children referred to in this context is that Google has marked the video for inclusion in the YouTube Kids app, which is a separate app for displaying child-friendly YouTube content.
The 'Kids' label also means that the video must comply with the US Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) so that comments are turned off.
congrats @youtube on the decision to auto-designate @LOCAL58TV's “show for children” as FOR KIDS despite my having set it as inappropriate for kids. i also can't change it voluntarily without an *appeal* pic.twitter.com/dnhmzL9hbi
— Kris Straub (@krisstraub) July 5, 2022
Local58TV itself is one of the most famous horror video channels on YouTube. Their channel has only released nine short videos but has been watched tens of millions of times and has more than 530,000 subscribers.
But YouTube's moderation system doesn't seem familiar with Local58TV's uploaded content. YouTube automatically labels an episode titled 'Show for Children' as child-friendly content.
If you look at the title alone, it is very possible for an AI bot to misunderstand the content of this video. But in the description it is clear that this video is not intended for children and Straub said he had set the age rating of the video to 18 years and over when uploaded.
The content of the video itself is indeed inappropriate for children to watch. The video features a cute cartoon skeleton who is looking for a girlfriend, only to find a more realistic and scary skeleton and other terrifying creatures.
Not only does YouTube mark the video as child-friendly content, YouTube also doesn't allow the creator to change its rating. Because it's been regulated as 'kid-friendly' content by YouTube, Straub will have to appeal if he wants to change his rating.
After his tweet on Twitter went viral, Straub finally got a direct response from YouTube. In a tweet, YouTube said it had approved Straub's appeal and returned the horror video to its original settings so that it will no longer appear on YouTube Kids.
