4.2.4. Flagging campaigns

Groups and/or persons that initiates or participates in a practice called ‘group flagging’ (also known as ‘flagging campaigns’). This is a semi-organized form of collectively flagging one specific video or account. Similar to the ‘Ego-Flagger’ there is a sense of power at play, because a lot of these types of channels list a number of accounts they have already got deleted, thereby showing the effectives of their campaign. These channels / users organize these campaigns from both inside the YouTube platform as well as from outside forum and personal websites. Which gives them the appearance of being similar to ‘smart mobs’. A term coined by Howard Rheingold to refer to “the ability of people using mobile and networked communication devices to organize and respond in real time to developing situation.” (Jenkins, 2006, p.332) The users extend the functionality of the flagging system by appropriating the system to their own demands. This can be seen as part of the bottom-up consumer-driven process (grassroots convergence) of consumers learning how to use the different media technologies to bring the flow of media more under their control (Jenkins, 2006, p.18). One particular difference with ‘smart mobs’ is the fact that not all flagging campaigns are being held by a number of users, some are speculated by the community to be performed by one user with a lot of ‘sockpuppet’ accounts. A ‘sockpuppet’ can be created in a matter of minutes. Which completely takes away the accountability, because they tend to close them or abandon the ‘sockpuppet’ accounts after the flagging campaign. This together with the ease of flagging a video, a push on the button is sufficient, not only lowers the barrier to flag a video, but also to do this sooner. Which increases the chances for false flagging practices. A user does not need to be right, for there are no direct consequences to flagging a video for the wrong reasons. The underlying motivations vary from a dislike towards the online behavior of a certain account to an account posting videos representing an opinion different from the flagging group. And flagging a video, because the account shows for example a ‘pro-life’ opinion is not in accordance with the flagging reasons given in the TOS.
Flagging campaigns, and false flagging in general, raises the demand for a different approach towards flagging. For example, a rule that prohibits an account to flag after three unjust consecutive flags. But the ‘sockpuppet’ accounts are already one phenomenon that would cause such an idea to fail. In addition to this, it would remain the question of who gets to determine whether a video was justified flagged; who will be the ‘watchdog’? A meta-moderation system in the hands of the community, not unlike the Slashdot system, as proposed in the final chapter would decrease the amount of false flagging by adding a reputational factor into the community.