Disney has reportedly pulled its ads from YouTube entirely in the wake of new controversy over a series of new videos showcasing child exploitation on the site. A report from Bloomberg states that Disney has “withheld its spending” on YouTube in the wake of creator Matt Watson’s explainer, which demonstrates how predators use videos of children to sexually exploit them.

Scores of YouTube videos with tens of millions of views are being inundated with comments by paedophiles, with adverts from major brands running alongside the disturbing content

The ranks of people who believe the Earth is flat are being helped by YouTube, suggests a US study.

Asheley Landrum is an assistant professor of science communication at Texas Tech University. Her focus: how cultural values affect our understanding of science. Most recently she's been looking at the rise of flat Earth theory. Incredibly, more people than ever believe in a flat Earth. Google searches for "flat earth" have grown massively over the past five years and flat Earth conventions have begun popping up all over the globe.

Researchers believe they have identified the prime driver for a startling rise in the number of people who think the Earth is flat: Google’s video-sharing site, YouTube. Their suspicion was raised when they attended the world’s largest gatherings of Flat Earthers at the movement’s annual conference in Rayleigh, North Carolina, in 2017, and then in Denver, Colorado, last year.

YouTube is all too aware of the potential for abuse of the dislike button, and it could soon take steps to make people think carefully about hitting that thumbs-down icon. Project management director Tom Leung posted an update this week revealing that YouTube is discussing experiments that could prevent "dislike mobs" from running rampant. It could turn off rating counts by default, require an explanation for a dislike, remove just the dislike count or even remove dislikes altogether.

YouTube will tweak its algorithm to recommend less content that “comes close” to violating site rules, the company announced Friday. YouTube’s recommendation algorithm suggests new videos for viewers, but some genres of videos, especially conspiracy videos, have been criticized for their frequent appearance in those recommendations.

In a terrible abuse of YouTube's copyright system, a YouTuber is reporting that scammers are using the platform's "three strike" system for extortion. After filing two false claims against ObbyRaidz, the scammers contacted him demanding cash to avoid a third - and the termination of his channel.

A group of approximately 50 YouTube creators allegedly owed more than $1.7 million following the collapse of network Defy Media are unlikely to see that money. Ally Bank, one of Defy Media’s financial backers, tweeted a statement on January 25th following a video from popular YouTube creator Matthew “MatPat” Patrick asking Ally to give him and other YouTube creators the money they’re owed by Defy.

YouTube said Friday it will stop recommending specious videos such as those claiming the earth is flat or promoting bogus theories about the September 11, 2001 attacks. The global video streaming service planned to modify its viewing recommendation system gradually, starting in the United States and later expanding to other countries.

Whether it is a video claiming the earth is flat or the moon landing was faked, conspiracy theories are not hard to find on Google’s YouTube. But in a significant policy change, YouTube said on Friday that it planned to stop recommending them. After years of criticism that YouTube leads viewers to videos that spread misinformation, the company said it was changing what videos it recommends to users. In a blog post, YouTube said it would no longer suggest videos with “borderline content” or those that “misinform users in a harmful way” even if the footage does not violate its community guidelines.

YouTube TV is expanding to 95 new U.S. markets, to cover 98 percent of households.

This year there's more ways to stream the Super Bowl live over the Internet than ever. And if you live in Bangor or Reno or Wilmington, you can now add one more to the list. Starting today, YouTube TV is available in 95 additional TV markets, including those three, and will roll out nationwide soon. Until now the $40-per-month service, which offers a slate of live TV channels streamed over the Internet as an alternative to traditional cable TV, was only available in certain markets. It launched in April 2017 in five US cities...

Animated Compilation

YouTube already frowns on challenges and pranks that put people at risk, but it's making that policy more explicit in light of the recent rise of Bird Box-inspired dares. The service has updated its guidelines to directly ban all challenges and pranks that are dangerous or harmful, including activities that cause "severe emotional distress" for kids or make any target think they're in "serious physical danger."

Instagram's attempt to compete with YouTube is looking a lot like YouTube more than six months after its launch.

Lady Gaga's iconic "Bad Romance" music video has officially reached one billion views on YouTube. This marks the first time the pop star has reached the milestone. Released in 2009 off the deluxe edition of her debut album, Fame Monster, the video features songstress in the futuristic, bold fashion choices that separated her from other singers at the time. The clip reminds us of the Gaga that grabbed our attention ten years ago, sprinkled with dynamic choreography and the catchy "Rah-Rah-ah-ah-ah" throughout.

A pair of hackers have hijacked Google Chromecasts and called on their owners to follow YouTubers PewDiePie. The hackers, known as HackerGiraffe and j3ws3r, are estimated to have accessed more than 70,000 devices so far with the exploit, according to the CastHack website the hackers launched (via The Verge). Affected Chromecasts cast a message stating their device is exposing sensitive information about them and advising owners to visit the CastHack page for more information.

This is a story about the question of who holds power over what we can say, hear, watch and read on the internet—an increasingly urgent issue that many ordinary people have cause to think about every day. And yet the protagonist in this story, the man whose fate symbolizes the future of social media and the corporate web that controls it, is unknown to the vast majority of educated readers. That man is PewDiePie, a Swedish comedian whose real name is Felix Kjellberg. With 77-million subscribers, he has the most popular YouTube channel in the world.

YouTube users are becoming increasingly frustrated with the platform's handling of copyright complaints. Legitimate videos are being claimed or removed based on false claims, either by automated mistakes or intentional abuse. Perhaps it's time for YouTube to hold 'abusive' copyright holders responsible for their actions?