YouTube intros Violative View Rate metric for transparency and content accountability

YouTube has recently introduced Violative View Rate (VVR), a new metric measuring how much of the views on the platform come from content violating its policies to improve transparency and accountability.

“Our ongoing goal is for the YouTube community to thrive as we continue to live up to our responsibility.
The Community Guidelines Enforcement Report documents the clear progress made since 2017, but we
also recognize our work isn’t done. It’s critical that our teams continually review and update our policies, work with experts, and remain transparent about the improvements in our enforcement work,” said
Jennifer O’Connor, PM Director, Trust & Safety at YouTube.

“We’re committed to these changes because they are good for our viewers and good for our business—violative content has no place on YouTube. We invest significantly in keeping it off, and the VVR holds us accountable and helps us better understand the progress we’ve made in protecting people from harmful content on YouTube,” O’Connor added.

As per the platform, the new metric will be included and updated in YouTube’s quarterly Community Guidelines Enforcement report that includes how many content and accounts violating YouTube’s Community Guidelines have been removed. YouTube mentioned that this also helps in contextualizing how the platform is advancing its responsibility efforts.

YouTube has removed more than 83 million videos and 7 billion comments violating Community Guidelines since the report’s launch in 2018.

Additionally, YouTube mentioned that the report has also been tracking the impact of the platform’s deep investment in machine learning technology, which can now detect 94% of all violative content on YouTube via automated flagging, 75% of which are removed before even receiving 10 views.

The Violative View Rate is calculated by taking a sample of videos on YouTube and sending them to content reviewers who say which videos violate its policies and which don’t. The platform recognizes that this sampling method allows YouTube to have a more comprehensive view of violative content that its systems may not catch.

As of now, YouTube has nearly 20,000 people working on its responsibility efforts.

“VVR data gives critical context around how we’re protecting our community. Other metrics, like the turnaround time to remove a violative video, are important. The VVR is the best way for us to understand how harmful content impacts viewers and to identify where we need to make improvements,” O’Connor stated.

Furthermore, YouTube has been tracking the VVR since 2017 and as it expanded its investment in both people and technology. The rate has fallen by over 70%. The most recent VVR is at 0.16%-0.18%, which implies that out of every 10,000 views on YouTube, 16-18 come from violative content.

O’Connor also regarded that the VVR will fluctuate, either up and down, depending on the policies’ updates.

“You might see this number temporarily go up as our systems ramp-up to catch content that is newly
classified as violative,” she explained.

You may head over to this link to know more about YouTube’s Community Guidelines and to access the most recent Community Guidelines report.