Putting its foot down… again — YouTube updates policies to explicitly ban dangerous pranks, challenges
Stunts like the inane “Bird Box challenge” are getting the ax
Pranks and challenges have always been popular on YouTube, but now the Google-owned company has set stricter guidelines for such content. A new YouTube support page details the company’s updated policy surrounding “harmful and dangerous” content to explicitly ban pranks and challenges that cause immediate or lasting physical or emotional harm.
“YouTube is home to many beloved viral challenges and pranks, like Jimmy Kimmel’s Terrible Christmas Presents prank or the water bottle flip challenge,” the FAQ post says. “That said, we’ve always had policies to make sure what’s funny doesn’t cross the line into also being harmful or dangerous.”
The updated policies page now highlights three specific types of videos that are prohibited:
- Challenges that encourage acts that have an inherent risk of severe physical harm
- Pranks that make victims believe they’re in physical danger
- Pranks that cause emotional distress to children
These are included with content like “instructional bomb making” and “hard drug use” as content that encourages or promotes dangerous and/or illegal activity. As with most YouTube policies, the examples given are not an exhaustive list, meaning that YouTube’s moderators will decide what is considered a harmful or dangerous prank when they review individual videos.
Channels that produce prank and challenge videos have two months to “review and clean up” any content that might violate these new policies. After that period, any videos that were posted before these new rules came into effect will be removed, but channels will not receive a strike. Going forward, YouTube will treat offending videos as it would any other video in violation of its Community Guidelines—multiple offenses in a short period of time can result in a channel’s ban.
Driving while blindfolded and ingesting detergent
YouTube is likely acting now in part due to the popularity of the “Bird Box challenge,” which dares people to wear blindfolds and navigate the world similarly to how Sandra Bullock and others do in the new Netflix movie. Numerous adults (and children) have been hurt trying to complete the challenge—one teenager in Salt Lake City, Utah, even crashed her car while reportedly attempting to drive while covering her eyes.
Prank channels were some of the most popular on YouTube a few years ago, and some continue to be popular today. Popular creators like Jake and Logan Paul often ride on the latest trends, creating one-off prank or challenge videos that get millions of views. The Bird Box challenge is just one of many potentially dangerous stunts creators attempt for views. Last year, YouTube pulled many “Tide Pod challenge” videos after adults and children filmed themselves eating the tiny detergent-filled sacks.
Prank and challenge videos have the potential to harm children and young viewers the most. Some professional pranksters are known to fake their stunts, but they’ve done well enough that young viewers don’t understand that what they’re watching isn’t real. These revised guidelines are YouTube’s way of telling these creators that this content isn’t welcome and they risk being banned if they don’t clean up their content.
In addition to the new rules surrounding pranks and challenges, YouTube updated its custom thumbnail and external links rules. Creators can no longer promote their videos with custom thumbnails that contain prohibited content such as pornography or graphic violence. Creators also cannot include external links that drive viewers to content that violates YouTube guidelines, such as pornography, malware, and spam.
Article via Arstechnica
Chris Hansen Usually Helps Cops. Not In This Case
‘To Catch a Predator’ host failed to pay $13K bill for marketing materials: police
(Newser) – For once, To Catch a Predator host Chris Hansen is on the other side of a police investigation. The 59-year-old, charged Monday with issuing a bad check, allegedly failed to pay a $13,000 bill despite a police warning. He ordered 355 ceramic mugs, 288 T-shirts and 650 vinyl decals from Promotional Sales Limited in Stamford, Conn., receiving an invoice for $12,998.05 in September 2017, reports the Stamford Advocate. Owner Peter Psichopaidas then filed a complaint in April, saying a check he received had bounced. An apologetic Hansen offered to make partial payments, but the money never came, according to an arrest affidavit, which notes Hansen also bailed after agreeing to give a statement to police.
The charges came after Hansen was warned he could be arrested for larceny, according to investigator Sean Coughlin. “I told Chris … that nearly $13,000 is a lot of money to a ‘mom-and-pop’ business and it is not fair that he accepted the material but hasn’t paid for it,” he writes. Per the Wrap, Hansen previously offered coffee mugs and T-shirts as a way to attract investors to a 2015 Kickstarter campaign intended to revive “To Catch a Predator,” which NBC canceled. (The campaign worked, sort of.)
Article via Newser
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Bay Area McDonald’s Cashier Convicted of Trying to Drown Newborn in Toilet After Giving Birth at Work
A Northern California woman charged with trying to drown her baby after giving birth in a McDonald’s restaurant has pleaded no contest to child endangerment.
KPIX-TV reports that 26-year-old Sarah Lockner entered the plea Monday and faces up to four years in prison.
Authorities say Lockner was a cashier at a McDonald’s in Redwood City when she gave birth in a bathroom during her shift in September of 2017.
Prosecutors say a co-worker who went to check on Lockner found a newborn baby boy face down in the toilet bowl with Lockner’s hand on his back.
Police were called and found the boy had no pulse and wasn’t breathing. He was taken to a hospital and survived.
Lockner was charged with attempted murder but pleaded to the lesser charge.
Man filmed punching 11-year-old girl outside mall facing charges
ASHEVILLE, N.C. — A 51-year-old man is accused of pushing and punching an 11-year-old girl outside a North Carolina shopping mall.
The Asheville Citizen Times reported that David Steven Bell, of Black Mountain, was caught on video assaulting the victim Saturday outside the Asheville Mall.
Bell was arrested by an off-duty officer and charged with assault on a child under the age of 12, a misdemeanor offense.
He was also charged with two other counts of assault on a female after two 13-year-old girls also said Bell pushed them.
Bell is listed in an incident report as standing 6-feet-5 and weighing 250 pounds. Video of the assault was shared widely on social media.
Some people online came to the suspect’s defense, saying he was responding to a threat after being pushed. The exact circumstances of what led up to the assault remain uncertain. Bell has not responded to the paper’s request for a comment.
via: https://fox2now.com/2019/01/15/man-filmed-punching-11-year-old-girl-outside-mall-facing-charges/
Ex-Yankee John Wetteland sexually abused boy between ages 4 and 6: officials
Yankee great John Wetteland, who was MVP of the 1996 World Series as the team’s closer, was arrested this week on charges he sexually abused a male relative, officials said.
The 52-year-old abused the boy from October 2004 to October 2006 — when he was between the ages of 4 and 6, according to his arrest affidavit.
He posted $25,000 bond and was released Monday just hours after being taken into custody.
Wetteland — who also played for the Rangers from 1997 to 2000 after a two-year stint with the Yanks — was living in Texas at the time of the alleged abuse.
The victim claims to have been assaulted by Wetteland when he would return home from work trips.
“[The victim] stated that his [attacker] was gone most of the year for work responsibilities and would return for about a month at a time,” the affidavit states.
Wetteland is accused of forcing the boy to perform a sex act on him “on three separate occasions between the years of 2004-2006. Each of these three acts occurred while they were in the master bathroom shower located at [his] residence.”
Wetteland, a born-again Christian, was living in Bartonville at the time and serving on the board of directors for the Calvary Chapel church in Katy.
“He volunteered to do it,” church leader Mark Martinez told The Post.
Over the years, Wetteland has worked at Liberty Christian School in Texas as the school’s baseball coach and also taught Bible studies. He divorced from his wife, Michele, in 2015 and the pair had four children together.
Wetteland had made a name for himself in the mid-1990s as a dominant closer, who saved a record four games during the Yankees’ World Series win against the Braves in 1996.
It was the team’s first title in 18 years, and his performance earned Wetteland World Series MVP honors.
The iconic image of that championship was Wetteland in the arms of catcher Joe Girardi with a fist raised in the air as the Yankee Stadium crowd exploded with joy.
Wetteland went on to play for the Rangers the following year.
His setup man, rookie Mariano Rivera, moved into the Yankees closer’s role after Wetteland’s departure and went on to a Hall of Fame career.
Wetteland recorded 330 saves over the course of his 12-season career, which also included stints with the Dodgers and Expos.
The California native struggled with drugs and alcohol throughout his youth but was still able to land in the minors in 1986. According to Yankees analyst and journalist Jack Curry, he almost died twice — when he was just 17.
“Once he nearly overdosed on a combination of drugs, including LSD, at a Grateful Dead concert,” wrote Curry in a 1995 profile on Wetteland for the New York Times. “Another time, Wetteland was in the front seat when a drunken friend rammed his car into a telephone pole. Something happened. He trudged on. He kept playing baseball and guitar. He kept walking crooked.”
According to his then wife, Michele, “it was difficult for him to forgive his parents for some things he had to go through as a kid.”
“He wishes they would have protected him from some of the things he experienced,” Michele explained in the 1995 article.
“He was really wild and really out there at one time and it was so opposed to my beliefs as a Christian,” she said, noting how “it really is two different persons with John.”
“God’s word says the old man is cast off. John’s old man has been cast off. If you asked me if I sit here in awe of John and how obedient he has been to God’s word, I’d tell you that I do.”
Michele could not be reached for comment Tuesday and declined to speak to the Dallas Morning News.
Neither Wetteland nor his attorney could be reached for comment.
His arrest on Tuesday is the worst turn for the former Yankees star, who has faced troubles since retiring after the 2000 season.
After entering the coaching ranks in 2006 — a year after being inducted into the Texas Rangers’ Hall of Fame — he failed to make it through one season with the Nationals as bullpen coach.
Wetteland reportedly irked team management by encouraging pranks, like setting off firecrackers during spring training. He also allegedly tried to disassemble a video camera.
Nationals manager Frank Robinson eventually said enough is enough and fired Wetteland in June 2006.
“They seem to focus a little bit more on practical jokes and fooling around out there in the bullpen rather than focusing and concentrating on the game, and keeping their minds focused to what they would have to do when they came into the ballgame to get people out,” Robinson told the Washington Post at the time.
“I just couldn’t put up with it anymore. I talked to John on a number of occasions and told him flat-out what I needed and how I wanted things done. He just didn’t seem to understand.”
More seriously, there were once worries about Wetteland’s mental health.
In November 2009, he was hospitalized in Texas in what police believed to be a suicidal situation.
A woman at Wetteland’s home had called the cops about a possibly suicidal person believed to be Wetteland.
The CBS affiliate in Texas reported that when officers arrived at the home, Wetteland emerged, saying he “needed help.”
Later, Wetteland and the Mariners — for whom he was then a bullpen coach — said he had an elevated heart rate.
He claimed in a statement that “the circumstances leading to my elevated blood pressure and heart rate” had been addressed.
Additional reporting by Zach Braziller
Photo Credit: Denton County Jail via AP
Nas Says JAY-Z Was Aware of R. Kelly’s Pedophilia in Unearthed 2002 Interview
Things are getting more and more interesting a week following the premiere of the Surviving R. Kelly docuseries. Many people who have collaborated with the disgraced singer in the past have joined the #MuteRKelly movement, meanwhile, others assured that they been hopped on the wave decades ago when his pedophilia was made public knowledge.
JAY-Z was one of the people who opted to not participate in the documentary for whatever reason. According to an unearthed 2002 interview with Wendy Williams and Nas, Hov seen a “14-year-old girl come in the studio sit on R. Kelly’s lap” during the production of the Best of Both Worlds. Wendy agreed to say that anyone who has worked with him witnessed disgusting acts of sexual misconduct.
Dame Dash recently made headlines for claiming he was allegedly against his former artist collaborating with R. Kelly because of the nature of the relationship between his late fiance, Aaliyah, and Kells.
“I remember having the conversation with Aaliyah. And I was like ‘Yo, tell me what happened.’ And she was like ‘uh.’ She just couldn’t,” Dame said. “What you think I felt? I’m human, bro. I had to look the other way. All these years. Publicly, that man did a record with that n*gga that raped my girl, that he liked as well. But no one said nothing.”
Article via TheSource