AP — When researchers at a nonprofit that studies social media wanted to understand the connection between YouTube videos & gun violence, they set up accounts on the platform that mimicked the behavior of typical boys living in the U.S.
They simulated 2 9-year-olds who both liked video games, especially 1st-person shooter games. The accounts were identical, except that 1 clicked on the videos recommended by YouTube & the other ignored the platform’s suggestions.
The account that clicked on YouTube’s suggestions was flooded with graphic videos about school shootings, tactical gun training videos & how-to instructions on making firearms fully automatic. 1 video featured an elementary school-age girl wielding a handgun; another showed a shooter using a .50 caliber gun to fire on a dummy head filled with lifelike blood & brains. Many of the videos violate YouTube’s own policies against violent or gory content.
Despite YouTube’s rules & content moderation, the platform is failing to stop the spread of frightening videos that could traumatize vulnerable children or send them down dark roads of extremism & violence.
1 of the videos recommended for the accounts was titled “How a Switch Works on a Glock,” was removed. An identical video popped up 2 weeks later with an altered name; it's still available.
Perpetrators behind many recent mass shootings used social media & streaming platforms to glorify violence or even livestream their attacks. In posts on YouTube, the shooter that killed 17 in the 2018 Parkland attack wrote “I wanna kill people,” “I’m going to be a professional school shooter” & “I have no problem shooting a girl in the chest.”
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