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Category Archives: YouTube Blogs
Susan Wojcicki: Preserving openness through responsibility
Dear creators and artists,
As I do every quarter, I’d like to pause and reflect on my priorities and how I can help you be successful on YouTube. But rather than our usual update on this quarter’s highlights and lowlights, I want to take a minute to talk about something that is incredibly important to me personally, and the future of this platform: openness and how we balance that with our responsibility to protect the community.
YouTube is built on the premise of openness. Based on this open platform, millions of creators around the world have connected with global audiences and many of them have built thriving businesses in the process. But openness comes with its challenges, which is why we also have Community Guidelines that we update on an ongoing basis. Most recently, this includes our hate speech policy and our upcoming harassment policy. When you create a place designed to welcome many different voices, some will cross the line. Bad actors will try to exploit platforms for their own gain, even as we invest in the systems to stop them. As more issues come into view, a rising chorus of policymakers, press and pundits are questioning whether an open platform is valuable... or even viable.
Despite these concerns, I believe preserving an open platform is more important than ever.
First, openness leads to opportunity. Today’s creators have built an entire creative economy and are redefining the face of media. They are truly next-generation media businesses, with millions of views and global brands, who are contributing to local and global economies, and creating jobs. These are creators that would not have had a chance to break through in a more closed media landscape. Creators like Swedish robotics enthusiast Simone Giertz and blind lifestyle vlogger Molly Burke, both unconventional in their appeal and passed over by traditional media, are finding huge success on YouTube managing businesses, selling merchandise, creating jobs for other people and creating real economic value in their communities. Or creators like Laura Vitale, Sallys Welt and Helen's Recipes have turned their passion for food into full-time professions, complete with successful channels, cookbooks and more. And they are not alone. A report from Ryerson University found that YouTube creators have created 28,000 full time jobs just in Canada. And 20% of eligible Canadian creators are creating jobs for others. Around the globe, the number of channels earning more than $100,000 continues to climb 40% year over year.
Openness has also helped foster community. On an open platform, a shared experience can unite people in amazing ways. For example, Ryleigh Hawkins from New Zealand started her channel, Tourettes Teen, to spread awareness about what it’s like to live with Tourette’s syndrome. Her informative, joyful and humorous videos have earned her fans around the world and let others with this potentially isolating condition know they are not alone. And teens are sharing their college rejection videos, serving as a reminder that this painful moment happens to everyone and people do bounce back.
And finally, openness leads to learning. As a daughter of two teachers and a lifelong learner, I’ve been especially inspired to see Edutubers like Origin of Everything, Manual do Mundo, Eddie Woo and Excel is Fun turn YouTube into the world’s largest classroom. Every time I meet someone new and ask them about YouTube, I hear a story about something they learned on the site: how YouTube helped a student ace her math homework, a mom fix a broken garage door, or an employee master a new job skill.
Let me be clear, none of this happens without openness. Without an open system, diverse and authentic voices have trouble breaking through. And the voices that do get a platform often sound like those who already have one. That small business built on someone sharing their passion for soapmaking never takes off. That bullied teen can’t find a community that looks and feels like them and lets them know that it gets better. And that curious person obsessed with planetary physics and looking for a few videos is probably out of luck.
A commitment to openness is not easy. It sometimes means leaving up content that is outside the mainstream, controversial or even offensive. But I believe that hearing a broad range of perspectives ultimately makes us a stronger and more informed society, even if we disagree with some of those views. A large part of how we protect this openness is not just guidelines that allow for diversity of speech, but the steps that we’re taking to ensure a responsible community. I’ve said a number of times this year that this is my number one priority. A responsible approach toward managing what’s on our platform protects our users and creators like you. It also means we can continue to foster all the good that comes from an open platform.
Problematic content represents a fraction of one percent of the content on YouTube and we’re constantly working to reduce this even further. This very small amount has a hugely outsized impact, both in the potential harm for our users, as well as the loss of faith in the open model that has enabled the rise of your creative community. One assumption we’ve heard is that we hesitate to take action on problematic content because it benefits our business. This is simply not true — in fact, the cost of not taking sufficient action over the long term results in lack of trust from our users, advertisers, and you, our creators. We want to earn that trust.
This is why we’ve been investing significantly over the past few years in the teams and systems that protect YouTube. Our approach towards responsibility involves four “Rs”:
The stories I hear from creators like you inspire me every day. The community you’ve created is living proof that an internet that reflects a broad range of ideas can change the world for the better. You’ve built something incredible; it’s our job to strike the right balance between openness and responsibility so that future generations of creators and users can, as well.
Susan Wojcicki
As I do every quarter, I’d like to pause and reflect on my priorities and how I can help you be successful on YouTube. But rather than our usual update on this quarter’s highlights and lowlights, I want to take a minute to talk about something that is incredibly important to me personally, and the future of this platform: openness and how we balance that with our responsibility to protect the community.
YouTube is built on the premise of openness. Based on this open platform, millions of creators around the world have connected with global audiences and many of them have built thriving businesses in the process. But openness comes with its challenges, which is why we also have Community Guidelines that we update on an ongoing basis. Most recently, this includes our hate speech policy and our upcoming harassment policy. When you create a place designed to welcome many different voices, some will cross the line. Bad actors will try to exploit platforms for their own gain, even as we invest in the systems to stop them. As more issues come into view, a rising chorus of policymakers, press and pundits are questioning whether an open platform is valuable... or even viable.
Despite these concerns, I believe preserving an open platform is more important than ever.
First, openness leads to opportunity. Today’s creators have built an entire creative economy and are redefining the face of media. They are truly next-generation media businesses, with millions of views and global brands, who are contributing to local and global economies, and creating jobs. These are creators that would not have had a chance to break through in a more closed media landscape. Creators like Swedish robotics enthusiast Simone Giertz and blind lifestyle vlogger Molly Burke, both unconventional in their appeal and passed over by traditional media, are finding huge success on YouTube managing businesses, selling merchandise, creating jobs for other people and creating real economic value in their communities. Or creators like Laura Vitale, Sallys Welt and Helen's Recipes have turned their passion for food into full-time professions, complete with successful channels, cookbooks and more. And they are not alone. A report from Ryerson University found that YouTube creators have created 28,000 full time jobs just in Canada. And 20% of eligible Canadian creators are creating jobs for others. Around the globe, the number of channels earning more than $100,000 continues to climb 40% year over year.
Openness has also helped foster community. On an open platform, a shared experience can unite people in amazing ways. For example, Ryleigh Hawkins from New Zealand started her channel, Tourettes Teen, to spread awareness about what it’s like to live with Tourette’s syndrome. Her informative, joyful and humorous videos have earned her fans around the world and let others with this potentially isolating condition know they are not alone. And teens are sharing their college rejection videos, serving as a reminder that this painful moment happens to everyone and people do bounce back.
And finally, openness leads to learning. As a daughter of two teachers and a lifelong learner, I’ve been especially inspired to see Edutubers like Origin of Everything, Manual do Mundo, Eddie Woo and Excel is Fun turn YouTube into the world’s largest classroom. Every time I meet someone new and ask them about YouTube, I hear a story about something they learned on the site: how YouTube helped a student ace her math homework, a mom fix a broken garage door, or an employee master a new job skill.
Let me be clear, none of this happens without openness. Without an open system, diverse and authentic voices have trouble breaking through. And the voices that do get a platform often sound like those who already have one. That small business built on someone sharing their passion for soapmaking never takes off. That bullied teen can’t find a community that looks and feels like them and lets them know that it gets better. And that curious person obsessed with planetary physics and looking for a few videos is probably out of luck.
A commitment to openness is not easy. It sometimes means leaving up content that is outside the mainstream, controversial or even offensive. But I believe that hearing a broad range of perspectives ultimately makes us a stronger and more informed society, even if we disagree with some of those views. A large part of how we protect this openness is not just guidelines that allow for diversity of speech, but the steps that we’re taking to ensure a responsible community. I’ve said a number of times this year that this is my number one priority. A responsible approach toward managing what’s on our platform protects our users and creators like you. It also means we can continue to foster all the good that comes from an open platform.
Problematic content represents a fraction of one percent of the content on YouTube and we’re constantly working to reduce this even further. This very small amount has a hugely outsized impact, both in the potential harm for our users, as well as the loss of faith in the open model that has enabled the rise of your creative community. One assumption we’ve heard is that we hesitate to take action on problematic content because it benefits our business. This is simply not true — in fact, the cost of not taking sufficient action over the long term results in lack of trust from our users, advertisers, and you, our creators. We want to earn that trust.
This is why we’ve been investing significantly over the past few years in the teams and systems that protect YouTube. Our approach towards responsibility involves four “Rs”:
- We REMOVE content that violates our policy as quickly as possible. And we’re always looking to make our policies clearer and more effective, as we’ve done with pranks and challenges, child safety, and hate speech just this year. We aim to be thoughtful when we make these updates and consult a wide variety of experts to inform our thinking, for example we talked to dozens of experts as we developed our updated hate speech policy. We also report on the removals we make in our quarterly Community Guidelines enforcement report. I also appreciate that when policies aren’t working for the creator community, you let us know. One area we’ve heard loud and clear needs an update is creator-on-creator harassment. I said in my last letter that we’d be looking at this and we will have more to share in the coming months.
- We RAISE UP authoritative voices when people are looking for breaking news and information, especially during breaking news moments. Our breaking and top news shelves are available in 40 countries and we’re continuing to expand that number.
- We REDUCE the spread of content that brushes right up against our policy line. Already, in the U.S. where we made changes to recommendations earlier this year, we’ve seen a 50% drop of views from recommendations to this type of content, meaning quality content has more of a chance to shine. And we've begun experimenting with this change in the UK, Ireland, South Africa and other English-language markets.
- And we set a higher bar for what channels can make money on our site, REWARDING trusted, eligible creators. Not all content allowed on YouTube is going to match what advertisers feel is suitable for their brand, we have to be sure they are comfortable with where their ads appear. This is also why we’re enabling new revenue streams for creators like Super Chat and Memberships. Thousands of channels have more than doubled their total YouTube revenue by using these new tools in addition to advertising.
The stories I hear from creators like you inspire me every day. The community you’ve created is living proof that an internet that reflects a broad range of ideas can change the world for the better. You’ve built something incredible; it’s our job to strike the right balance between openness and responsibility so that future generations of creators and users can, as well.
Susan Wojcicki
Source: YouTube Creator Blog
Take your tunes on the road: YouTube Music comes to Waze
Drivers, rejoice! Never worry again about switching between YouTube Music (to listen) and Waze (to navigate). Rolling out today, YouTube Premium and Music Premium subscribers can safely listen to their favorite music from directly within the Waze app, where they get their directions. All of the albums, playlists, personalized mixes, and more that fans love to listen to are now available with a couple of quick taps as they navigate to where they need to go. With YouTube Music and Waze together in one experience, there has never been a more entertaining way to get around.
To listen to your favorites in YouTube Music as you drive with Waze, download the YouTube Music app for Android or iOS and start your free trial of YouTube Music Premium. Follow these simple steps to start listening:
Rolling out from today and soon available to all 50 markets where both YouTube Music and Waze are accessible, subscribers can now easily play music as they drive safely. Check out these YouTube Music playlists to queue up while on the road, and happy cruising!
Lawrence Kennedy
Product Manager, YouTube Music
Lawrence recently listened to Dance Pop Bangers while driving with Waze
To listen to your favorites in YouTube Music as you drive with Waze, download the YouTube Music app for Android or iOS and start your free trial of YouTube Music Premium. Follow these simple steps to start listening:
- Open the Waze app
- Tap the music note icon to select YouTube Music as your audio app, and start enjoying your audio content directly from Waze.
- Don’t see the music note icon? Head to Settings > Audio Player to turn on “Show Audio Player”
Rolling out from today and soon available to all 50 markets where both YouTube Music and Waze are accessible, subscribers can now easily play music as they drive safely. Check out these YouTube Music playlists to queue up while on the road, and happy cruising!
- New Release Mix - Catch up on the latest drops as you drive, with this playlist filled with brand new music, selected just for you.
- Dance Pop Bangers - Soundtrack your party, or your road trip, with these party hits.
Lawrence Kennedy
Product Manager, YouTube Music
Lawrence recently listened to Dance Pop Bangers while driving with Waze
Source: YouTube Blog
Updates to our manual Content ID claiming policies
In Susan’s April Creator Letter, she shared that improving creators’ experience with copyright claims is one of our top priorities. One concerning trend we’ve seen is aggressive manual claiming of very short music clips used in monetized videos. These claims can feel particularly unfair, as they transfer all revenue from the creator to the claimant, regardless of the amount of music claimed. A little over a month ago, we took a first step in addressing this by requiring copyright owners to provide timestamps for all manual claims so you know exactly which part of your video is being claimed. We also made updates to our editing tools in Creator Studio that allow you to use those timestamps to remove manually claimed content from your videos, automatically releasing the claim and restoring monetization.
Today, we’re announcing additional changes to our manual claiming policies intended to improve fairness in the creator ecosystem, while still respecting copyright owners’ rights to prevent unlicensed use of their content.
Including someone else’s content without permission — regardless of how short the clip is — means your video can still be claimed and copyright owners will still be able to prevent monetization or block the video from being viewed. However, going forward, our policies will forbid copyright owners from using our Manual Claiming tool to monetize creator videos with very short or unintentional uses of music. This change only impacts claims made with the Manual Claiming tool, where the rightsholder is actively reviewing the video. Claims created by the Content ID match system, which are the vast majority, are not impacted by this policy. Without the option to monetize, some copyright owners may choose to leave very short or unintentional uses unclaimed. Others may choose to prevent monetization of the video by any party. And some may choose to apply a block policy.
As always, the best way to avoid these issues is to not use unlicensed content in your videos, even when it’s unintentional music playing in the background (i.e. vlogging in a store with music playing in the background). Instead, choose content from trusted sources such as the YouTube Audio Library, which has new tracks added every month. If you do find yourself with an unintended claim, you can use our editing tools to remove the claimed content and the restrictions that come with it. And, of course, if you feel that your use qualifies for an exception to copyright, like Fair Use, be sure you understand what that means and how our dispute process works before uploading your video.
Our enforcement of these new policies will apply to all new manual claims beginning in mid-September, providing adequate time for copyright owners to adapt. Once we start enforcement, copyright owners who repeatedly fail to adhere to these policies will have their access to Manual Claiming suspended.
We strive to make YouTube a fair ecosystem for everyone, including songwriters, artists, and YouTube creators. We acknowledge that these changes may result in more blocked content in the near-term, but we feel this is an important step toward striking the right balance over the long-term. Our goal is to unlock new value for everyone by powering creative reuse and content mashups, while fairly compensating all rightsholders.
— The YouTube Team
Today, we’re announcing additional changes to our manual claiming policies intended to improve fairness in the creator ecosystem, while still respecting copyright owners’ rights to prevent unlicensed use of their content.
Including someone else’s content without permission — regardless of how short the clip is — means your video can still be claimed and copyright owners will still be able to prevent monetization or block the video from being viewed. However, going forward, our policies will forbid copyright owners from using our Manual Claiming tool to monetize creator videos with very short or unintentional uses of music. This change only impacts claims made with the Manual Claiming tool, where the rightsholder is actively reviewing the video. Claims created by the Content ID match system, which are the vast majority, are not impacted by this policy. Without the option to monetize, some copyright owners may choose to leave very short or unintentional uses unclaimed. Others may choose to prevent monetization of the video by any party. And some may choose to apply a block policy.
As always, the best way to avoid these issues is to not use unlicensed content in your videos, even when it’s unintentional music playing in the background (i.e. vlogging in a store with music playing in the background). Instead, choose content from trusted sources such as the YouTube Audio Library, which has new tracks added every month. If you do find yourself with an unintended claim, you can use our editing tools to remove the claimed content and the restrictions that come with it. And, of course, if you feel that your use qualifies for an exception to copyright, like Fair Use, be sure you understand what that means and how our dispute process works before uploading your video.
Our enforcement of these new policies will apply to all new manual claims beginning in mid-September, providing adequate time for copyright owners to adapt. Once we start enforcement, copyright owners who repeatedly fail to adhere to these policies will have their access to Manual Claiming suspended.
We strive to make YouTube a fair ecosystem for everyone, including songwriters, artists, and YouTube creators. We acknowledge that these changes may result in more blocked content in the near-term, but we feel this is an important step toward striking the right balance over the long-term. Our goal is to unlock new value for everyone by powering creative reuse and content mashups, while fairly compensating all rightsholders.
— The YouTube Team
Source: YouTube Creator Blog
Queen launches ‘You Are The Champions’ campaign, giving fans a chance to star in three new user-generated videos on YouTube
Queen — in partnership with YouTube Music, Universal Music Group and Hollywood Records —has launched "You Are The Champions," a unique new campaign that gives fans an exclusive chance to become a part of Queen history with a starring role in three brand-new, user-generated videos for three of the band’s most celebrated tracks. The campaign launched to celebrate Queen’s iconic music video for “Bohemian Rhapsody,” becoming the first pre-1990s video to reach one billion views on YouTube.
Speaking from the band’s current sold-out North American tour, founding Queen members Brian May and Roger Taylor said, “We are honoured that Bohemian Rhapsody has just hit one billion views on YouTube. We want to thank you all and celebrate with our amazing fans all around the world by creating three new music videos to our songs, all featuring you! Whether you are a musician, singer, dancer, visual artist or you just want to have some fun. Go to youarethechampions.com to find out more and we’ll see you on the road somewhere.”
As part of the campaign, musicians, singers, and instrumentalists can take on "Bohemian Rhapsody." Visual artists will get the chance to design any word or phrase from the lyrics of "A Kind of Magic." And, finally, dancers will be able to give their own interpretations for "Don't Stop Me Now," with a special instructional video created by Polly Bennett (Rami Malek’s movement coach from the hit film, “Bohemian Rhapsody”).
“I was so happy to be asked to choreograph for this initiative,” said famed movement director and choreographer, Bennett. “Rami (Malek) and I spent a lot of time moving to Queen’s music while filming ‘Bohemian Rhapsody,’ so I’m thrilled to encourage the world to do the same. Get dancing! I can’t wait to see what you make.”
In addition to the three music videos created by user content, a fourth video for "We Will Rock You" will re-create the song's iconic BOOM BOOM CLAP using a collage of sporting event sounds. As a result, the new version will live as a sonic homage to the song's energized relationship with sports.
Fans can visit youarethechampions.com to find out more and add their submissions* through August 18 by 11:59 p.m. ET. The final videos will be available on Queen’s official YouTube channel this fall.
*Terms and Conditions for UGC submissions here.
Speaking from the band’s current sold-out North American tour, founding Queen members Brian May and Roger Taylor said, “We are honoured that Bohemian Rhapsody has just hit one billion views on YouTube. We want to thank you all and celebrate with our amazing fans all around the world by creating three new music videos to our songs, all featuring you! Whether you are a musician, singer, dancer, visual artist or you just want to have some fun. Go to youarethechampions.com to find out more and we’ll see you on the road somewhere.”
As part of the campaign, musicians, singers, and instrumentalists can take on "Bohemian Rhapsody." Visual artists will get the chance to design any word or phrase from the lyrics of "A Kind of Magic." And, finally, dancers will be able to give their own interpretations for "Don't Stop Me Now," with a special instructional video created by Polly Bennett (Rami Malek’s movement coach from the hit film, “Bohemian Rhapsody”).
“I was so happy to be asked to choreograph for this initiative,” said famed movement director and choreographer, Bennett. “Rami (Malek) and I spent a lot of time moving to Queen’s music while filming ‘Bohemian Rhapsody,’ so I’m thrilled to encourage the world to do the same. Get dancing! I can’t wait to see what you make.”
In addition to the three music videos created by user content, a fourth video for "We Will Rock You" will re-create the song's iconic BOOM BOOM CLAP using a collage of sporting event sounds. As a result, the new version will live as a sonic homage to the song's energized relationship with sports.
Fans can visit youarethechampions.com to find out more and add their submissions* through August 18 by 11:59 p.m. ET. The final videos will be available on Queen’s official YouTube channel this fall.
*Terms and Conditions for UGC submissions here.
Source: YouTube Blog
YouTube brings the sights and sounds of Lollapalooza 2019 to millions of music fans around the world with official live stream
YouTube will exclusively bring the biggest performances from Grant Park, Chicago to millions of music fans all over the world with the official live stream of Lollapalooza 2019, August 1 to 4. Iconic music moments from artists including twenty one pilots, The Revivalists, Janelle Monae, Rüfüs Du Sol and more will also be available via the live stream within the YouTube Music app.
In addition to curated performances throughout the four-day festival, YouTube Originals is partnering with Lollapalooza to produce original creative content, including backstage moments and exclusive artist moments just before they take the stage to be featured in and around the live stream. YouTube Music will amplify the Lollapalooza experience by presenting Lollapalooza themed playlists, The Lineup and Emerging Artists, to give fans another way to find all the music they love in one place.
YouTube’s live streams bring the festival experience into the hands and homes of millions of fans around the world. There is no other platform of its kind that allows artists to connect with a global audience and share their creativity in both visual and audio formats with billions of viewers around the globe, making the world smaller and music more expansive. The 2019 Lollapalooza live stream is presented by COVERGIRL, Warner Bros. Pictures (for the film "Blinded by the Light"), and T-Mobile.
Subscribe to Lollapalooza’s YouTube Channel for up-to-date information on when your favorite artists are streaming live, and follow @youtubemusic on Instagram and Twitter for behind-the-scenes moments all weekend long. There, you can watch the latest videos and relive past moments.
In addition to curated performances throughout the four-day festival, YouTube Originals is partnering with Lollapalooza to produce original creative content, including backstage moments and exclusive artist moments just before they take the stage to be featured in and around the live stream. YouTube Music will amplify the Lollapalooza experience by presenting Lollapalooza themed playlists, The Lineup and Emerging Artists, to give fans another way to find all the music they love in one place.
YouTube’s live streams bring the festival experience into the hands and homes of millions of fans around the world. There is no other platform of its kind that allows artists to connect with a global audience and share their creativity in both visual and audio formats with billions of viewers around the globe, making the world smaller and music more expansive. The 2019 Lollapalooza live stream is presented by COVERGIRL, Warner Bros. Pictures (for the film "Blinded by the Light"), and T-Mobile.
Subscribe to Lollapalooza’s YouTube Channel for up-to-date information on when your favorite artists are streaming live, and follow @youtubemusic on Instagram and Twitter for behind-the-scenes moments all weekend long. There, you can watch the latest videos and relive past moments.
Source: YouTube Blog
Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorism: An update on our progress
In summer 2017, Facebook, YouTube, Microsoft and Twitter came together to form the Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorism (GIFCT).
The objective of the GIFCT has always been to substantially disrupt terrorists’ ability to promote terrorism, disseminate violent extremist propaganda, and exploit or glorify real-world acts of violence on our services. We do this by joining forces with counterterrorism experts in government, civil society and the wider industry around the world. Our work centers around three, interrelated strategies:
Today, building on the commitments we made as part of the Christchurch Call to Action, we are adding a fourth pillar to our work that will focus on crisis response. Specifically, we are introducing joint content incident protocols for responding to emerging or active events, such as the horrific terrorist attack in Christchurch, so that relevant information can be quickly and efficiently shared, processed and acted upon by all member companies. We are also releasing our first GIFCT Transparency Report and a new counterspeech campaign toolkit that will help activists and civil society organizations challenge the voices of extremism online.
And as we head into our third year as GIFCT, we are pleased to welcome Pinterest and Dropbox as members. We will continue to add new members, particularly smaller companies, that could benefit from the collective experience of GIFCT members.
When terrorists misuse the internet, they often upload the same piece of content to multiple platforms to maximize their reach. To disrupt this behavior, we jointly developed a shared industry database of “hashes” — or digital fingerprints — that allows us to safely share known terrorist images and video propaganda with partner companies. This enables us to more quickly identify and take action against potential terrorist content on our respective platforms.
The shared database predates the creation of GIFCT, but over the last couple years, we have significantly increased the volume of hashes within the database. In 2018, for example, we set and achieved our goal of reaching 100,000 unique hashes. And in the first six months of this year, we’ve already doubled that number, and we now have more than 200,000 unique hashes in the database.
As we take steps to deliver on the four collaborative actions set forth in the Christchurch Call to Action, we’re expanding the shared industry database so that it extends beyond photos and videos to include URLs that lead to known terrorist and violent extremist content online.
We have heard, loud and clear, from government and civil society that we need to be more transparent about what we are working on as an industry. As a result, today we are releasing our first-ever GIFCT Transparency Report. The report goes into detail about the GIFCT’s primary work streams, providing greater insight into how the Hash Sharing Consortium has defined terrorist content, and the volume and types of content included in the database. The full transparency report, which is available here, will complement the transparency reports put out by individual GIFCT member companies.
When we committed to the Christchurch Call to Action and issued a nine-point plan outlining concrete steps we plan to take as an industry, we said, “We come together, resolute in our commitment to ensure we are doing all we can to fight the hatred and extremism that lead to terrorist violence.” Never has that commitment been more important. As industry partners, we continue to prioritize and deepen engagement with governments, civil society and smaller tech companies around the world.
In partnership with Tech Against Terrorism, we’ve held 11 workshops in nine countries on four continents. We’ve met with 120 different tech and innovation platforms, and we have provided funding to secure Jihadology.net to make sure that researchers studying terrorism can still access primary research material while ensuring that terrorists and people vulnerable to recruitment cannot.
Today, we are also rolling out a cross-platform counter-violent extremist toolkit that we jointly developed with the Institute for Strategic Dialogue. The toolkit will assist civil society organizations in developing online campaigns to challenge extremist ideologies, while prioritizing their safety. We know that the technology industry isn’t the best or most appropriate messenger when it comes to pushing back on violent extremists, which is why it’s so important to support civil society organizations that have the credibility and knowledge to combat, respond and counter the promotion of violent extremism online.
Perhaps most importantly, today we are adding a fourth pillar to the GIFCT’s core mission: enabling and empowering companies to respond to crises like Christchurch. The horrific terrorist attack highlighted the importance of close communication between members, and between government and the wider industry, which is why we are introducing joint content incident protocols to enable and empower companies to more quickly and effectively respond to emerging and active events.
The protocol, which can be triggered by a real-world event involving murder or attempted murder of defenseless civilians or innocents, outlines steps that tech companies can take to respond quickly to an attack. Based on the joint protocols, we will work together to categorize the type of incident and the anticipated level and degree of online impact. We will also set up formal channels of communication so we can share intelligence and content with non-GIFCT companies and other stakeholders, as needed.
Terrorism and violent extremism are complex problems that require a joint response from industry, governments and wider society. We believe that by working together, sharing the best technological and operational elements of our individual efforts, we can have a significantly greater impact on the threat of terrorist content online than we can alone.
We are grateful for the support of and collaboration with governments, international organizations and NGOs around the world, including the EU Internet Forum and the UN Counter Terrorism Executive Directorate. We look forward to sharing more updates in the coming months.
— The Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorism
The objective of the GIFCT has always been to substantially disrupt terrorists’ ability to promote terrorism, disseminate violent extremist propaganda, and exploit or glorify real-world acts of violence on our services. We do this by joining forces with counterterrorism experts in government, civil society and the wider industry around the world. Our work centers around three, interrelated strategies:
- Joint tech innovation
- Knowledge sharing
- Conducting and funding research
Today, building on the commitments we made as part of the Christchurch Call to Action, we are adding a fourth pillar to our work that will focus on crisis response. Specifically, we are introducing joint content incident protocols for responding to emerging or active events, such as the horrific terrorist attack in Christchurch, so that relevant information can be quickly and efficiently shared, processed and acted upon by all member companies. We are also releasing our first GIFCT Transparency Report and a new counterspeech campaign toolkit that will help activists and civil society organizations challenge the voices of extremism online.
And as we head into our third year as GIFCT, we are pleased to welcome Pinterest and Dropbox as members. We will continue to add new members, particularly smaller companies, that could benefit from the collective experience of GIFCT members.
More than 200,000 unique hashes now in our joint database
When terrorists misuse the internet, they often upload the same piece of content to multiple platforms to maximize their reach. To disrupt this behavior, we jointly developed a shared industry database of “hashes” — or digital fingerprints — that allows us to safely share known terrorist images and video propaganda with partner companies. This enables us to more quickly identify and take action against potential terrorist content on our respective platforms.
The shared database predates the creation of GIFCT, but over the last couple years, we have significantly increased the volume of hashes within the database. In 2018, for example, we set and achieved our goal of reaching 100,000 unique hashes. And in the first six months of this year, we’ve already doubled that number, and we now have more than 200,000 unique hashes in the database.
As we take steps to deliver on the four collaborative actions set forth in the Christchurch Call to Action, we’re expanding the shared industry database so that it extends beyond photos and videos to include URLs that lead to known terrorist and violent extremist content online.
First GIFCT Transparency Report
We have heard, loud and clear, from government and civil society that we need to be more transparent about what we are working on as an industry. As a result, today we are releasing our first-ever GIFCT Transparency Report. The report goes into detail about the GIFCT’s primary work streams, providing greater insight into how the Hash Sharing Consortium has defined terrorist content, and the volume and types of content included in the database. The full transparency report, which is available here, will complement the transparency reports put out by individual GIFCT member companies.
A toolkit to counter violent extremism
When we committed to the Christchurch Call to Action and issued a nine-point plan outlining concrete steps we plan to take as an industry, we said, “We come together, resolute in our commitment to ensure we are doing all we can to fight the hatred and extremism that lead to terrorist violence.” Never has that commitment been more important. As industry partners, we continue to prioritize and deepen engagement with governments, civil society and smaller tech companies around the world.
In partnership with Tech Against Terrorism, we’ve held 11 workshops in nine countries on four continents. We’ve met with 120 different tech and innovation platforms, and we have provided funding to secure Jihadology.net to make sure that researchers studying terrorism can still access primary research material while ensuring that terrorists and people vulnerable to recruitment cannot.
Today, we are also rolling out a cross-platform counter-violent extremist toolkit that we jointly developed with the Institute for Strategic Dialogue. The toolkit will assist civil society organizations in developing online campaigns to challenge extremist ideologies, while prioritizing their safety. We know that the technology industry isn’t the best or most appropriate messenger when it comes to pushing back on violent extremists, which is why it’s so important to support civil society organizations that have the credibility and knowledge to combat, respond and counter the promotion of violent extremism online.
Enabling and empowering companies to respond to crises like Christchurch
Perhaps most importantly, today we are adding a fourth pillar to the GIFCT’s core mission: enabling and empowering companies to respond to crises like Christchurch. The horrific terrorist attack highlighted the importance of close communication between members, and between government and the wider industry, which is why we are introducing joint content incident protocols to enable and empower companies to more quickly and effectively respond to emerging and active events.
The protocol, which can be triggered by a real-world event involving murder or attempted murder of defenseless civilians or innocents, outlines steps that tech companies can take to respond quickly to an attack. Based on the joint protocols, we will work together to categorize the type of incident and the anticipated level and degree of online impact. We will also set up formal channels of communication so we can share intelligence and content with non-GIFCT companies and other stakeholders, as needed.
Terrorism and violent extremism are complex problems that require a joint response from industry, governments and wider society. We believe that by working together, sharing the best technological and operational elements of our individual efforts, we can have a significantly greater impact on the threat of terrorist content online than we can alone.
We are grateful for the support of and collaboration with governments, international organizations and NGOs around the world, including the EU Internet Forum and the UN Counter Terrorism Executive Directorate. We look forward to sharing more updates in the coming months.
— The Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorism
Source: YouTube Blog
Queen’s iconic "Bohemian Rhapsody" video reaches historic 1 billion views milestone on YouTube
Queen’s iconic music video for “Bohemian Rhapsody” has now officially passed one billion views on YouTube, making history as the first pre-1990s video to reach one billion views on the platform.
The accompanying video for Queen’s 1975 single, “Bohemian Rhapsody,” is generally recognized as the first-ever promotional music video, kick-starting and setting the gold-standard for the genre for decades to come. Today, it continues to inspire and entertain millions of fans around the world, more than 40 years after it was first created.
Speaking from the band’s current sold-out North American tour, founding Queen members Brian May and Roger Taylor said, “We are honoured that Bohemian Rhapsody has just hit one billion views on YouTube. We want to thank you all and celebrate with our amazing fans all around the world by creating three new music videos to our songs, all featuring you! Whether you are a musician, singer, dancer, visual artist or you just want to have some fun. Go to youarethechampions.com to find out more and we’ll see you on the road somewhere.”
To celebrate this monumental achievement, a newly remastered HD version of the video is available today, for the first time ever and exclusively on the bands' YouTube channel. Fans can now see the video restored in all its glory, as it was originally intended. Additionally, fans will now be able to access the song’s lyrics in multiple languages including English, Spanish, Italian, French, Japanese, Polish, German, Indonesian Bahasa, Korean, Czech, Russian and Turkish while watching the video.
To further honor this significant milestone, Queen — in partnership with YouTube Music, Universal Music Group and Hollywood Records — have announced the launch of ‘You Are The Champions,’ a unique new campaign that will give fans an exclusive chance to become a part of Queen history with a starring role in three brand-new, user-generated videos for three of the band’s most celebrated tracks. The campaign launches later this month, so stay tuned for more details.
As part of the campaign, musicians, singers, and instrumentalists can take on "Bohemian Rhapsody." Dancers will be able to give their own interpretations for "Don't Stop Me Now," with a special instructional video created by Polly Bennett (Rami Malik’s movement coach from the hit film, “Bohemian Rhapsody”). And, finally, visual artists will get the chance to design any word or phrase from the lyrics of "A Kind of Magic."
Fans can visit YouAreTheChampions.com to find out more and add their submissions! The finished videos will be published later this year on the bands' official YouTube channel.
“Bohemian Rhapsody is a sonic and cinematic masterpiece that’s one of the most enduring songs of all time,” said Lyor Cohen, Global Head of Music for YouTube. “The newly remastered video on YouTube will ensure the song continues to be rediscovered, embraced and beloved by old and new generations of music fans around the world. It's incredible to help change the way fans experience music and provide a place for artist and fan connections worldwide."
Celine Joshua (General Manager, Commercial, Content and Artist Strategy at Universal Music Group) said, “We are thrilled that Queen’s iconic "Bohemian Rhapsody" video has reached a historic one billion views on YouTube. Now, together with Queen, YouTube and Hollywood Records, we are excited to launch ‘You Are The Champions,’ an innovative, new user-generated video campaign with Queen’s incredible fans around the world at its core. This will be the first of a series of custom initiatives we have planned in the coming months on the official Queen channel.”
As well as its status as being the first music promo video of its kind, “Bohemian Rhapsody” is regularly cited as one of the greatest songs ever recorded. In 2004, the song was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame, and Freddie Mercury’s vocal performance was named by the readers of Rolling Stone magazine as the best in rock history.
The song has continued to inspire a new generation of fans following the unprecedented global success of last year’s biographical film “Bohemian Rhapsody,” which tells the incredible story of the band’s career, as well as the genesis of the song. The film is the highest-grossing music biopic in history, having generated more than $900 million dollars at the box office. The film also won four Oscars, including Rami Malek’s triumph in the Best Actor Category for his portrayal of legendary frontman Freddie Mercury on the big screen — a feat he repeated at both BAFTA and the Golden Globes.
Source: YouTube Blog
YouTube Music now lets listeners switch seamlessly between audio and music videos
Imagine listening to a new track by your favorite artist in the YouTube Music app and having the ability to seamlessly switch over to watch the music video — no pauses, no interruptions, just a simple transition that keeps the music flowing. That’s exactly what we’re introducing! Today, YouTube Premium and YouTube Music Premium subscribers can now make a seamless transition between a song and its music video for uninterrupted listening and watching.
Switching between songs and music videos is as simple as the tap of a button. Users will notice a video button at the top of the screen as they start listening to a song, and with a simple tap, they can instantly start watching the music video or flip back to the audio at the same point in the track.
This new feature simplifies listening to songs and watching videos, plus more!
Whether you’re listening to your favorites or checking out new releases, your music experience just got way more interactive. To check out flipping between song and video, along with all the other great features, download the YouTube Music app for Android or iOS, and start your trial of YouTube Music Premium.
Brandon Bilinski, Product Manager, YouTube Music. He's recently been listening to "Happier" by Marshmello & Bastille.
Switching between songs and music videos is as simple as the tap of a button. Users will notice a video button at the top of the screen as they start listening to a song, and with a simple tap, they can instantly start watching the music video or flip back to the audio at the same point in the track.
This new feature simplifies listening to songs and watching videos, plus more!
- Discovering new music videos is easier than ever before. From recent mega-hits to deep cuts, if a song has a video, YouTube Music will surface a video button so switching between audio and visuals is just one click away.
- YouTube Music has perfectly time-matched over five million official music videos to their respective audio tracks, so no matter when or how often you flip back and forth between the two, you won’t miss a beat.
- When you flip from video to song, say goodbye to the other sounds that go with the music video — like those long introductions — and enjoy the song as it was intended.
- Not into music videos? We’ve got you covered. To stick to songs 100% of the time, visit your settings and turn off the music video option by toggling “Don’t play music videos” to the “on” position.
Whether you’re listening to your favorites or checking out new releases, your music experience just got way more interactive. To check out flipping between song and video, along with all the other great features, download the YouTube Music app for Android or iOS, and start your trial of YouTube Music Premium.
Brandon Bilinski, Product Manager, YouTube Music. He's recently been listening to "Happier" by Marshmello & Bastille.
Source: YouTube Blog
YouTube Music now lets listeners switch seamlessly between audio and music videos
Imagine listening to a new track by your favorite artist in the YouTube Music app and having the ability to seamlessly switch over to watch the music video — no pauses, no interruptions, just a simple transition that keeps the music flowing. That’s exactly what we’re introducing! Today, YouTube Premium and YouTube Music Premium subscribers can now make a seamless transition between a song and its music video for uninterrupted listening and watching.
Switching between songs and music videos is as simple as the tap of a button. Users will notice a video button at the top of the screen as they start listening to a song, and with a simple tap, they can instantly start watching the music video or flip back to the audio at the same point in the track.
This new feature simplifies listening to songs and watching videos, plus more!
Whether you’re listening to your favorites or checking out new releases, your music experience just got way more interactive. To check out flipping between song and video, along with all the other great features, download the YouTube Music app for Android or iOS, and start your trial of YouTube Music Premium.
Brandon Bilinski, Product Manager, YouTube Music. He's recently been listening to "Happier" by Marshmello & Bastille.
Switching between songs and music videos is as simple as the tap of a button. Users will notice a video button at the top of the screen as they start listening to a song, and with a simple tap, they can instantly start watching the music video or flip back to the audio at the same point in the track.
This new feature simplifies listening to songs and watching videos, plus more!
- Discovering new music videos is easier than ever before. From recent mega-hits to deep cuts, if a song has a video, YouTube Music will surface a video button so switching between audio and visuals is just one click away.
- YouTube Music has perfectly time-matched over five million official music videos to their respective audio tracks, so no matter when or how often you flip back and forth between the two, you won’t miss a beat.
- When you flip from video to song, say goodbye to the other sounds that go with the music video — like those long introductions — and enjoy the song as it was intended.
- Not into music videos? We’ve got you covered. To stick to songs 100% of the time, visit your settings and turn off the music video option by toggling “Don’t play music videos” to the “on” position.
Whether you’re listening to your favorites or checking out new releases, your music experience just got way more interactive. To check out flipping between song and video, along with all the other great features, download the YouTube Music app for Android or iOS, and start your trial of YouTube Music Premium.
Brandon Bilinski, Product Manager, YouTube Music. He's recently been listening to "Happier" by Marshmello & Bastille.