in Early may, twenty of women, covered in fake blood, had demonstrated in front of the premises of the subsidiary of Google in London, accusing YouTube of contribute to the expansion of attacks to the weapon by hosting violent videos are produced on a drill (a common Hip-Hop). An event that has not been enough to bend the video platform that refuses to prohibit the dissemination.
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This style of music was born in Chicago in the years 2010 within disadvantaged neighbourhoods. This variant of the rap is going to be a huge success that it will cross the Atlantic to reach England. Even though the social differences are widening more and more the drill is spreading to London and became a real phenomenon. Words that want to be shocking with lyrics like “I break cars, fuck you” ; “I did run the fuckers in a shop ; look at that pussy, all her world was affected.”
With these videos, “YouTube facilitates the promotion and glorification of illegal weapons such as pistols, knives, machetes,” and allows for the distribution of “threats of the use to maim, torture or kill,” had denounced the movement Operation Shutdown, bringing together men and women bereaved by the increase of knife attacks in the Uk.
“Providing a place for those who are too often voiceless”
In a column published Friday in the daily newspaper The Telegraph , the patron saint of YouTube in the Uk, Ben McOwen Wilson, points out that the music drill is not illegal by nature, as it is a means of expression, and that it is therefore not intended to be prohibited on the video platform. “Although some have argued that the music drill had no place on YouTube, we believe we can help to offer a place to those who are too often voiceless,” he wrote.
The director of the platform in England does, however, recognize the need to combat “gang violence”, and ensure to work with the police, local communities and experts “to understand the local context and take action if appropriate”.
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like Facebook or Twitter, YouTube is regularly criticised for not doing enough to quickly remove content promoting hatred, violence or peddling of conspiracy theories, the hearing of which has exploded thanks to the advent of social networks.
