Controversies Over Video Rankings
The viewing figures of some YouTube videos have been the subject of controversy, since there have been claims that automated systems have been used to inflate the number of views received, which is forbidden by YouTube's terms of service. In March 2008, an unofficial video of the song "Music Is My Hot Hot Sex" by the Brazilian band Cansei De Ser Sexy briefly held the number one slot for the all-time most viewed video, with around 114 million views. It was temporarily removed from YouTube after allegations of automated viewing or hacking, before being deleted by the uploader. The viewing figures for the video outnumbered the "most favorited" rating by around 21,000 to 1, compared to around 500 to 1 for other top rated YouTube videos. YouTube's terms of service state: "You agree not to use or launch any automated system, including without limitation, 'robots,' 'spiders,' or 'offline readers,' that accesses the Website in a manner that sends more request messages to the YouTube servers in a given period of time than a human can reasonably produce in the same period by using a conventional on-line web browser." A spokesperson for YouTube commented: "We are developing safeguards to secure the statistics on YouTube. Although it is somewhat difficult to track how often this happens, it is not rampant. As soon as it comes to our attention that someone has rigged their numbers to gain placement on the top pages we remove the video or channel from public view." Clarus Bartel from Italy, who had uploaded the video, denied attempting to boost its ranking, stating: "These gimmicks do not belong to me. I've got nothing to do with it. The accusations geared towards me have saddened me greatly."
The YouTube video of the Avril Lavigne song "Girlfriend" was also accused of having an exaggerated number of views due to the use of a web link posted by AvrilBandAids, a fansite devoted to Avril Lavigne. Clicking on the link would automatically reload the YouTube video of "Girlfriend" every fifteen seconds. Fans of Avril Lavigne were encouraged to: "Keep this page open while you browse the internet, study for exams, or even sleep. For extra viewing power, open up two or more browser windows at this page!" The video of "Girlfriend" overtook "Evolution of Dance" by Judson Laipply as the all-time most viewed video on YouTube in July 2008. "Evolution of Dance" later retook the top slot, currently having around 199 million views, but was overtaken again on mid-2009 by the video of "Charlie bit my finger, again!" which currently has around 497 million views. The video of "Girlfriend" was removed by its uploader RCA Music around December 2009, ending with over 129 million views. However, as mentioned above, both "Evolution of Dance" and "Charlie bit my finger, again!" have been surpassed by the video of "Baby" by Justin Bieber which has over 803 million views, and the video of "Gangnam Style" by Psy which beat Bieber's record, which has over 1.10 Billion views. "On The Floor" by Jennifer Lopez, which has over 623 million views and "Love The Way You Lie" by Eminem, which has over 516 million views, are currently the third and fourth most viewed videos on YouTube, respectively.
YouTube user Cory Williams has also admitted to artificially inflating the views of his videos.
Read more about this topic: Social Impact Of You Tube, Video Rankings
Famous quotes containing the word video:
“We attempt to remember our collective American childhood, the way it was, but what we often remember is a combination of real past, pieces reshaped by bitterness and love, and, of course, the video past—the portrayals of family life on such television programs as “Leave it to Beaver” and “Father Knows Best” and all the rest.”
—Richard Louv (20th century)