Google to reportedly vet YouTubes premium video content

Google is planning to review the top-tier YouTube videos that it bundles together for major advertisers, in an effort to assure brands that their marketing content is being displayed in brand-safe environments.

According to Bloomberg, which cited people familiar with the efforts, the new approach will be applied to those videos that are part of Google Preferred, a set of the most popular YouTube channels that Google sells to advertisers at higher prices.

The plans come following a series of high-profile controversies over the past year, from the presence of adverts next to extremist and hate-speech filled videos, to the most recent scandal involving popular YouTube star Logan Paul releasing a video showing the body of an apparent suicide victim. Pauls channel was removed from Google Preferred as a result of the video.

The review of content will combine machine learning software with human moderators, and will presumably use some of the 10,000 employees Google recently announced it would be adding to help identify unsuitable content.

“We built Google Preferred to help our customers easily reach YouTubes most passionate audiences and weve seen strong traction in the last year with a record number of brands,” said a Google spokesperson in an emailed statement. “As we said recently, we are discussing and seeking feedback from our brand partners on ways to offer them even more assurances for what they buy in the Upfronts.”