Disabling comments on minors' videos a trade-off for child safety: YouTube CEO

Earlier this week, YouTube announced a series of changes to its platform in response to reports about paedophiles abusing the service to connect with others. One of the major steps to curb the issue, YouTube disabled comments on videos featuring minors.

The move evidently upset the creators and according to YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki, the decision to disable comments was a trade-off between upsetting the young video creators and upholding the safety of children, asserting that protecting children was the company’s priority, Cnet reported.

Although the decision to disable comments aims to curb the issue of child exploitation on the platform, it hurts the innocent creators who rely on feedback from their viewers to improve their content or simply connect with them.

The ‘paedophilia ring’ controversy began last week when a Redditor exposed how YouTube’s algorithm suggested inappropriate videos and that predators could enter a wormhole of such videos of children in sexually suggestive positions through the comments section where malicious users would post timestamps and links to other videos.