Dundee fight videos removed from YouTube - Evening Telegraph
Internet video giant YouTube has removed several videos which showed schoolchildren fighting in Dundee.
The website, which is owned by Google, confirmed that six videos containing footage of young teenagers being attacked or punching and kicking each other, both within school corridors and in city parks, had been taken down.
It followed a probe by the Tele into the videos, which had appeared over the last few weeks on the account of one user.
In some cases, the poster had encouraged people to view their videos in return for more being uploaded.
However, YouTube said that the poster of the videos would have to receive several "strikes" before their account would be reviewed for a potential ban.
A spokeswoman said: "The videos have been removed.
"We have community guidelines for YouTube and anyone who sees a video that they think might break these can flag them up underneath the video.
"These will get reviewed by a team of people and will be removed if they break our terms, so we have policies that protect against it.
"In terms of individual users, we have various policies and if they get a certain number of strikes, then we can take further action.
"We do have a lot of content going up but it's also an open platform, similar to the way you might get comments on a website.
"We want to keep the platform open, but we do provide a lot of ways for users to report content that they don't like."
She added: "We have policies against harassment, bullying and violent conduct. We review all flagged videos quickly, and take down anything that violates the rules."
The mum of one girl shown being attacked in a corridor said today that she was happy YouTube had removed the video — but was concerned it had taken the intervention of the Tele for this to happen.
"I am pleased YouTube removed this video but it should never have been on in the first place," she said.
"For them to suggest several people need to complain about a video before it is looked at is ridiculous.
"I was concerned for the safety of my daughter and complained to YouTube through the correct channels on their website but they have still not responded to me directly."
The girl is currently off school but her mum met with staff on Tuesday and a further meeting is planned today, to discuss a phased return for the pupil — who is said to be "petrified" about going back.
YouTube's policies state that "videos that incite others to commit acts of violence are strictly prohibited".
The company also says that "video showing a minor participating in a harmful or dangerous activity" should not be posted.
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