Content Moderation Case Study: YouTube Relocates Video Accused Of Inflated Views (2014)
from the movin'-videos dept
YouTube, however, believed that the views on the video were inflated through artificial means, violating the terms of service. Rather than simply removing the video, or shutting down Darnaa’s videos, the service simply moved the video to a new URL, resetting the counter (and breaking earlier links to the video). . .Darnaa’s music label, the conveniently named Darnaa, LLC. then sued YouTube arguing that moving the location of the video was both a breach of contract, and interference with her business dealings.
Decisions to be made by YouTube:
- How should a service like YouTube determine which videos are getting legitimate traffic compared to which are generated traffic through artificial means, such as bots?
- Is it possible to distinguish a heavy marketing campaign to point traffic to a video from methods involving artificially generated views?
- In which cases should a video that has received artificial views be moved to a different location (cutting off old links and restarting a counter) as compared to being removed entirely?
Questions and policy implications to consider:
- Will fighting back against artificially inflated views lead to false accusations?
- Could actions designed to stop artificial view inflation impact a legitimate marketing campaign?
- Should musicians and labels rely heavily on things like “views” to determine the actual popularity of an artist when they might be manipulated?
Resolution: After many twists and turns, the lawsuit Darnaa LLC filed against Google was dismissed at both the district court and the appeals court, though much of the dismissal was due to the case being filed after the statute of limitations had passed. However, the court also rejected the parts of the case that survived the statute of limitations questions, noting that YouTube was effectively entitled to manage its service as it saw fit, including how it treated Darnaa’s videos."
Originally posted to the Trust & Safety Foundation website.
Filed Under: content moderation, darnaa, gaming, inauthentic behavior, marketing campaigns, moving videos, viewer counts
Companies: youtube
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