YOUTUBE AND SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY

Early day motion 159, tabled 8 November 2007 by John Pugh (Liberal Democrat). Signed by 35 members.

That this House believes that the growth of websites like YouTube which allows uncontrolled uploading of video material represents a significant challenge to civilised society since it can feature acts of bullying, animal cruelty, sadism and activities of an illegal nature hidden behind a cloak of anonymity; thinks that the willingness of site owners to remove such material only when reported is a feeble response to such abuse of the media; calls on site owners to establish volunteer moderators who subsequent to uploading of material can assess whether any content breaches any code of publication defined for the site; notes that such collective moderation is preferable to the type of filtering technology used by Google in China and Taiwan; and observes that allowing a public platform for anonymous, aggressive and undesirable activity, however temporarily, is incompatible with responsible corporate behaviour.

Signatures by party: Liberal Democrat 17, Labour 13, Conservative 2, DUP 1, Independent 1, Social Democratic and Labour Party 1.