Video-sharing app Vine has recently announced its ban on sexually explicit content being uploaded onto its platform.
The app was launched in January 2013 a
Video-sharing app Vine has recently announced its ban on sexually explicit content being uploaded onto its platform.
The app was launched in January 2013 and had come to a point at which pornographic videos were increasingly being shared, with the most prominent platform for these videos being Twitter. The ban goes into effect immediately, and quite rightly.
Links to Twitter
Twitter is a social network that has been used by people of all ages since it was founded in 2006. Its original intended purpose was to enable users to post tweets that can give bite-sized updates to followers, almost like a mini blog. How such an innovative creation has been marred by pornographic material is surprising to say the least.
Vine, bought by Twitter in October 2012, allows users to share six-second looping videos. Many of us know Vine as a platform where we can view funny videos, sports clips or adorable kids saying adorable things. This has now been spread to Twitter with the new system where Vines can be embedded into your tweets.
Vine’s decision to ban pornographic material is very much welcome in the respect that there is a place on the internet for graphic content. With the great accessibility of Twitter, this is not the place for short porn movies.
A statement from Vine read: “For more than 99% of our users, this [ban on porn] doesn’t really change anything. For the rest: we don’t have a problem with explicit sexual content on the Internet – we just prefer not to be the source of it.”
It is very reassuring that Vine has taken this line, as people do not access Vine to be aroused, but rather to be amused and entertained. This is especially important in the case of minors using the internet.
Setting an example
The government are concerned as it is about young children having easy access to adult material online. The enormous metropolis we know as the internet is growing everyday, which means that companies such as Twitter and Vine, who command such a large monopoly over the social media wing of the internet, must set an example to their competitors.
Vine mentioned in a blog: “We’ve found that there’s a very small percentage of videos that are not a good fit for our community.”
Although the problem of pornographic videos on Vine would only affect a small number of users, shouldn’t placing a ban on it be obvious? The app has been in the public domain for more than a year now, with this decision only coming in recent weeks. Although a slow decision, the fact that the rules have already gone into effect shows the right attitude of urgency.
Vine has made an obvious yet important decision. Living in an age where toddlers of younger than five can pick up an iPad and surf the Internet, social networks have to do their part to ensure that our younger generation is protected from explicit content at such a tender age.
Do you think this ban came at the right time or just too late? Have your say in the comments section below.
Photo: clasesdeperiodismo / Flickr
