Banning comments won't fix YouTube's paedophile problem. Its algorithm is totally broken

YouTube / WIRED It has been a terrible few weeks for YouTube. Barraged by successive controversies around conspiracy theories, prank content and most recently the presence of paedophiles sharing comments directing fellow commenters to sexually suggestive sections of videos featuring children, the site has battled to keep its reputation intact. Its most recent reaction is to shut down the comments section of “tens of millions of videos that could be subject to predatory behaviour”. “They’re completely aware of what the problem is, but they are giving a quick fix in order to appease advertisers,” says Zoe Glatt, who is studying YouTube for her PhD at London School of Economics. “Yes, in the short term turning off all comments will deal with this problem in the sense that it will stop predatory comments on videos of young people.