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Trending: Can YouTube be trusted?

Factual

Can YouTube be trusted?

02/08/2019 GMT

BBC World Service - Trending, Can YouTube be trusted?

YouTube responds to accusations it has allowed harmful content to spread on its platform.

In a rare BBC interview, a YouTube executive responds to accusations that the company has allowed hateful and harmful content to spread on its platform.

YouTube has been criticised for failing to take responsibility for videos posted on the platform. So can it be trusted to control potentially harmful content?

The video-sharing site is just 14, but there's no doubt it has become a giant of global communication. According to the company's own figures, it has more than a billion users around the globe, watching more than a billion hours of videos every day. 

At the same time as it has grown phenomenally popular, however, YouTube has also been accused of spreading conspiracy theories and radicalising people into violent extremism. It has also been blamed for allowing hate speech, while failing to protect users from harmful videos.

And so it's only fair to ask: can YouTube really be trusted? In a rare interview with the BBC, YouTube UK managing director Ben McOwen Wilson gives us a glimpse into the company’s thinking about the many challenges and controversies it has faced in recent months.

Presenter: Marco Silva
Reporter: Chris Fox

(Photo Caption: a laptop showing YouTube's logo on its screen is held in front of graffiti / Photo Credit: Getty Images)

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