5.1 F(l)agging gay content on YouTube
“Thousands of videos are flagged each day, and though we don’t break down specific metrics regarding what content is flagged, the assumption that ‘LGBT content is routinely subject to flagging by users, while similar content depicting straight characters/individuals does not get flagged,’ seems anecdotal and is not supported by what we observe on the site. YouTube is, and always has been, a forum for free
expression. To be clear, our community is made up of millions of people across the world and is diverse racially, ethnically, politically, religiously as well as in terms of sexual orientation.”
This written respond from YouTube’s marketing manager, Jenny Nielson, to AfterEllen.com shows that they actually downplay the issue of ‘fagging’. The term ‘fagging’ in this context, is used by the user ‘Grimace’ who posted a video called “Flagged or Fagged?” on January 25, 2007. In this video Grimace and CrazyStacey present a few videoclips from YouTube, while asking the question whether these videos were “fairly flagged or unfairly fagged.” Grimace himself explains the term ‘fagged’ as: “flagged on the basis of homosexual content.” This definition is used with the further use of the term ‘fagging’ in this article. An ironic sidenote is that ‘flagging’ has a whole other meaning within the LGBT community, where ‘flagging’ means carrying a colored handkerchief from the back pocket. And the different ways of doing this indicates that one is gay and the type of company he/ she is looking for.
After a video has been f(l)agged and the YouTube staff agrees with that, the video will get deleted or marked as “inappropriate” and/or the user account will be deleted . When a video has been marked “inappropriate” a user that wants to see that specific video has login first:
and to confirm the viewer’s birth date in order to verify the age of the viewer:
After doing so the following banner will remain in sight above the video:
“This video may not be suitable for minors.”
It’s quite debatable when a video is marked “inappropriate” based on gay content. And can there for be considered as ‘R’ rated . But as soon as a video or an account gets deleted because it has been unrightfully flagged for containing gay content without nudity or sexual content, flagging stops being a tool for moderating content and starts being a tool for censorship. And because it is the community that censors itself, in a way this is self-censorship. Even though it’s YouTube that has the last hand in the deletion process, it’s the flaggers that decide which videos are up for deletion. Although this case study only handles flagging on gay content, more types of content are being unrightfully flagged.
It seems that something really provoked the LGBT community in this year. For not only was 2007 the year Grimace posted his video about ‘fagging’, but many other articles and videos dealing with ‘fagging’ on YouTube were mostly written and posted in this year. The video, that caused a great upheaval about homophobia by the LGBT community on YouTube, was part of an ad campaign of Snickers (called “Snickers Satisfies”) that was aired during the Superbowl in 2007. The accompanied contest, using YouTube as a platform, asked people to vote for “the most satisfying ending”, posting the alternative endings on their own website . In the ad two guys accidentally kiss after which they try to prove how manly they are by ripping hair out of their chest. The website also displayed the reactions of five NFL players to the several versions of the ad. “The players’ reactions range from general amusement (…) to non-verbal disgust (…) to overt expressions of prejudice (…)” It was the endings together with the players’ reactions that provoked gay rights organizations (a.o. GLAAD) to take a stand. Although the original advertisement is still online on YouTube , the site has been taken down and the players’ reactions show up on YouTube under the message:
“This video is no longer available due to a copyright claim by Mars, Inc.”
The “Snickers”-outrage was followed up by a smaller discussion in August 2007 in response to the flagging of a videoposting of the first teenage gay kiss during American daytime television, between Luke and Noah from As The World Turns . It was claimed to be ‘fagged’ and later taken down in request by Viacom due to copyright infringement. The video has been mirrored (= copied and posted by other users, while the original video is still online) numerously since then. Although YouTube responded in its own way by improving their flagging system in November of 2007 , the main issue has not been resolved yet.