YouTube’s new sex rules

The real reason for cracking down on raunchy Internet videos

YouTube is taking a step down a slippery slope, said David Sarno in the Los Angeles Times. The video-sharing site announced on its blog that it was imposing new rules to crack down on “sexually suggestive” clips and profanity. But “in all my years of YouTubing” I’ve never encountered a user offended by four-letter words or sexy dancing, so the company is probably just alienating users in this attempt to clean up its act.

Actually, YouTube is just one of many sites built on user-shared content that have decided it’s “good business to limit sexually explicit material,” said Jenna Wortham in The New York Times online. Ning, a platform that allows people to create their own social networks, is shutting down its “aptly named Red Light District” because adult fare doesn’t generate enough revenue to cover its costs.

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