YouTube: Difference between revisions

YouTube began as a [[venture capital]]–funded technology [[startup company|startup]]. Between November 2005 and April 2006, the company raised money from various investors, with [[Sequoia Capital]] and Artis Capital Management being the largest two.<ref name="Jackpot">{{cite news |first1=Miguel |last1=Helft |first2=Matt |last2=Richtel |title=Venture Firm Shares a YouTube Jackpot |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/10/technology/10payday.html |newspaper=The New York Times |date=October 10, 2006 |access-date=March 26, 2017 |id={{ProQuest|433418867}} |archive-date=March 11, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210311122613/https://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/10/technology/10payday.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=San Francisco Hedge Fund Invested in YouTube |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/12/technology/12hedges.html |work=The New York Times|last1=Helft|first1=Miguel|volume=156|issue=53,730 |date=October 12, 2006 |id={{ProQuest|433422252}}|archive-date=November 9, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201109034144/http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/12/technology/12hedges.html|url-status=live|access-date=September 8, 2018}}</ref> YouTube's early headquarters were situated above a pizzeria and a Japanese restaurant in [[San Mateo, California]].<ref>{{cite news |first=Sara |last=Kehaulani Goo |title=Ready for Its Close-Up |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/06/AR2006100600660.html |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190402153534/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/06/AR2006100600660.html |url-status=live |archive-date=April 2, 2019 |date=October 7, 2006 |access-date=March 26, 2017 }}</ref> In February 2005, the company activated <code>www.youtube.com</code>.<ref>{{cite web|title=Whois Record for <code>www.youtube.com</code> |url=https://whois.domaintools.com/youtube.com|publisher=DomainTools |archive-date=April 2, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190402130611/http://whois.domaintools.com/youtube.com |url-status=live|access-date=April 1, 2009}}</ref> The first video was uploaded on April 23, 2005. Titled "[[Me at the zoo]]", it shows co-founder Jawed Karim at the [[San Diego Zoo]] and can still be viewed on the site.<ref>{{cite news|title=YouTube: Overnight success has sparked a backlash |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/2480280/YouTube-Overnight-success-has-sparked-a-backlash.html|first=Richard |last=Alleyne|archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220110/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/2480280/YouTube-Overnight-success-has-sparked-a-backlash.html|url-access=subscription|url-status=live|website=[[The Daily Telegraph]]|archive-date=January 10, 2022|date=July 31, 2008|access-date=March 26, 2017}}{{cbignore}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |date=April 23, 2005 |title=Me at the zoo |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNQXAC9IVRw |website=YouTube |last1=jawed |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211221/jNQXAC9IVRw |archive-date=December 21, 2021 |url-status=live |access-date=August 3, 2009 }}{{cbignore}}</ref> The same day, the company launched a public [[BETA (programming language)|beta]] and by November, a Nike ad featuring [[Ronaldinho]] became the first video to reach one million total views.<ref>{{cite web|title=Hurley Declaration|url=https://static.googleusercontent.com/media/www.google.com/en//press/pdf/c_hurley_declaration.pdf|page=2|access-date=October 13, 2024}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.youtube.com/browse.php?s=mp |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051102073554/https://www.youtube.com/browse.php?s=mp |url-status=dead |archive-date=November 2, 2005 |title=Most Viewed – YouTube |work=[[Wayback Machine]] |date=November 2, 2005 |access-date=January 1, 2017}}</ref> The site launched officially on December 15, 2005, by which time the site was receiving 8&nbsp;million views a day.<ref>{{cite news |title=YouTube: a history |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/mediatechnologyandtelecoms/digital-media/7596636/YouTube-a-history.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220110/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/mediatechnologyandtelecoms/digital-media/7596636/YouTube-a-history.html |archive-date=January 10, 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |website=[[The Daily Telegraph]] |date=April 17, 2010 |access-date=March 26, 2017}}{{cbignore}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |first=Megan Rose |last=Dickey |title=The 22 Key Turning Points in the History of YouTube |url=https://www.businessinsider.com/key-turning-points-history-of-youtube-2013-2 |website=[[Business Insider]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170512055717/http://www.businessinsider.com/key-turning-points-history-of-youtube-2013-2 |url-status=live |archive-date=May 12, 2017 |date=February 15, 2013 |access-date=March 25, 2017}}</ref> Clips at the time were limited to 100 megabytes, as little as 30 seconds of footage.<ref>{{cite web|title=Video websites pop up, invite postings |date=November 21, 2005 |url=https://usatoday30.usatoday.com/tech/news/techinnovations/2005-11-21-video-websites_x.htm|last=Graham |first=Jefferson |access-date=March 26, 2017 |website=[[USA Today]] |archive-date=April 12, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220412064600/https://usatoday30.usatoday.com/tech/news/techinnovations/2005-11-21-video-websites_x.htm |url-status=live }}</ref>

The choice of the name <code>www.youtube.com</code> led to problems for a similarly named website, <code>www.utube.com</code>. That site's owner, [[Universal Tube & Rollform Equipment]], filed a lawsuit against YouTube in November 2006, after being regularly overloaded by people looking for YouTube. Universal Tube subsequently changed its website to <code>www.utubeonline.com</code>.<ref>{{cite news |title=Help! YouTube is killing my business! |last1=Zappone |first1=Christian |publisher=CNN |url=https://money.cnn.com/2006/10/12/news/companies/utube/index.htm |access-date=November 29, 2008 |date=October 12, 2006 |archive-date=January 9, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210109144540/https://money.cnn.com/2006/10/12/news/companies/utube/index.htm |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Utube sues YouTube |last1=Blakely |first1=Rhys |work=The Times |location=London |url=https://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/media/article623050.ece |date=November 2, 2006 |archive-date=April 3, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070403234216/http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/media/article623050.ece |url-status=dead|access-date=November 29, 2008}}</ref>

Before 2019, YouTube took steps to remove specific videos or channels related to [[Supremacism|supremacist]] content that had violated its acceptable use policies but otherwise did not have site-wide policies against [[hate speech]].<ref name="youtubeblog june2019">{{cite web |date=June 5, 2019 |title=Our ongoing work to tackle hate |url=https://youtube.googleblog.com/2019/06/our-ongoing-work-to-tackle-hate.html |access-date=April 9, 2020 |via=YouTube}}</ref>

In May 2019, YouTube joined an initiative led by France and New Zealand with other countries and tech companies to develop tools to be used to block [[online hate speech]] and to develop regulations, to be implemented at the national level, to be levied against technology firms that failed to take steps to remove such speech, though the United States declined to participate.<ref>{{cite web |last=Browne |first=Ryan |date=May 15, 2019 |title=New Zealand and France unveil plans to tackle online extremism without the US on board |url=https://www.cnbc.com/2019/05/15/new-zealand-france-unveil-plans-to-tackle-online-extremism-without-us.html |access-date=April 9, 2020 |publisher=[[CNBC]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Willsher |first=Kim |date=May 15, 2019 |title=Leaders and tech firms pledge to tackle extremist violence online |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/may/15/jacinda-ardern-emmanuel-macron-christchurch-call-summit-extremist-violence-online |access-date=April 9, 2020 |work=[[The Guardian]]}}</ref> Subsequently, on June 5, 2019, YouTube announced a major change to its terms of service and further stated it would "remove content denying that well-documented violent events, like the Holocaust or [[Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting|the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary]], took place."<ref name="youtubeblog june2019" /><ref>{{cite web |last=Newton |first=Casey |date=June 5, 2019 |title=YouTube just banned supremacist content, and thousands of channels are about to be removed |url=https://www.theverge.com/2019/6/5/18652576/youtube-supremacist-content-ban-borderline-extremist-terms-of-service |access-date=April 9, 2020 |work=[[The Verge]]}}</ref>

A related attempt to algorithmically flag videos containing references to the string "CP" (an abbreviation of [[child pornography]]) resulted in some prominent false positives involving unrelated topics using the same abbreviation. YouTube apologized for the errors and reinstated the affected videos.<ref>{{cite web |last=Gerken |first=Tom |date=February 19, 2019 |title=YouTube backtracks after Pokemon 'child abuse' ban |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-47278362|work=[[BBC News]]|access-date=February 20, 2019}}</ref>

=== Russia ===

* {{cite book |last=Kelsey |first=Todd |title=Social Networking Spaces: From Facebook to Twitter and Everything In Between |url=https://archive.org/details/socialnetworking0000kels |url-access=registration |year=2010 |publisher=Springer-Verlag |isbn=978-1-4302-2596-6}}

* {{cite book |last=Lacy |first=Sarah |title=The Stories of Facebook, YouTube and MySpace: The People, the Hype and the Deals Behind the Giants of Web 2.0 |year=2008 |publisher=Crimson |location=Richmond |isbn=978-1-85458-453-3}}

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