Google's vice-president, Kent Walker, came under fire from MPs today after admitting that his company does not employ a single person to proactively vet online content and for failing to censor a YouTube video of a gang rape.
One member of the Commons culture, media and sport committee called Walker "objectionable" after he attempted to defend the mistake by YouTube, the popular video sharing website owned by Google, over the gang rape.
Walker admitted that footage of a gang rape, reported to be of a woman in south London being set upon by a group of teenagers, received 600 page views before it was taken down from YouTube last month.
I find this story very relevant as I think it links to the idea of hegemony. Youtube is a massive company and allowing these videos to be shown is drip-feeding the ideology into the public that this type of footage is acceptable. Although it was a mistake on youtube's part, it still re-inforces these ideologies and therefore there is a likelihood that it will influence people. Youth crime is already a major issue and by showing these violent images, they are almost showing methods of how to achieve these specific things and therefore are having a negative influence. These kind of issues are also likely to raise a moral panic amongst society and therefore allowing videos like this to be shown illustrates the harsh reality behind these issues and therefore scares people alot more.
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