UK

The rape filmed on YouTube

By team ⋅ March 29, 2008 ⋅  Email this post ⋅  Print this post ⋅ Post a comment

The Daily Mail, 5 March

A mother who was raped in front of her screaming children by a gang of youths has hit out at YouTube for allowing the film to be seen on its video website. The three-minute clip, filmed on a mobile phone on November 6, was posted immediately and remained on the site for three months. In this time, it was seen over 600 times.

The 25 year old woman, from South London is distraught, and has condemned YouTube bosses, who only removed the clip in mid-February after receiving complaints. ‘How could anyone allow anything as degrading as that to be posted on the internet?’ she said. ‘They were really hurting me. My daughter was crying and I could not get to her. Afterwards, they called me a slag and a bitch. I felt so ashamed.’

A spokesman for YouTube claimed that it was impossible to keep track of every video posted on the website, and that it was up to viewers to police content. ‘YouTube is a community site used by millions of people in very positive ways. Sadly, as with any form of communication, there is a tiny minority of people who try to break the rules.’