YouTube and others to introduce ‘crowd source’ video ratings system
YouTube is to introduce a video ratings system in order to better prevent children from accessing violent and sexually explicit material as part of a government backed clampdown.
The system would enable users to assign their own age ratings to content uploaded by other users in a form of crowd sourcing in a bid to protect younger viewers from the most extreme material.
This would target a glut of pornography and scenes of violence which Prime Minister David Cameron fears may be corrupting the nation’s youth.
To tackle this industry and government have teamed up with the British Board of Film Classification to develop a new system, most of which currently escapes the remit of the official body.
A prototype system developed through this collaboration invites viewers to complete a short questionnaire indicating the level of drugs, horror, language, sex and violence contained in the clip – as well as an ‘alert’ feature to notify authorities of potentially illegal material such as child pornography.
The results of this process could inform a potential traffic light system with green indicating safe for all, amber denoting that parental guidance is needed and red warning for adult only content.
One government source told The Telegraph that the new system would better engage with parents, saying:: “Parents feel they lack the knowledge, the skills and the understanding of what the internet is doing and how their children are accessing it to feel confident to intervene.”