Among other top sites, YouTube and Facebook are deploying systems to block or rapidly take down Islamic State videos and other similar material, Reuters reports, citing sources. “The technology was originally developed to identify and remove copyright-protected content on video sites,” it writes.

The roster of YouTube Red programs unveiled by Susanne Daniels, YouTube VP of original content, shows it's sticking by its influencers, several of whom are getting new launch vehicles. 

Once VidCon was an optional little show for fans. Now it's big business, with two other VidCons planned for Amsterdam and Melbourne. The content has changed too.

YouTube Red, Google’s paid video streaming service, has purchased its first big-budget television series. “The show will be called Step Up, and it's based on the Channing Tatum dance drama franchise of the same name,” The Verge reports. “Lionsgate, which produced the franchise's fourth and fifth iterations, will deliver a 10-episode season with each episode running 45 minutes in length.”

This summer, YouTube sensation Smosh will debut “Smosh Live!” -- a variety and sketch-comedy show that will be streamed from the YouTube Space in Los Angeles in front of a audience. As Variety reports: “Defy Media, which manages the Smosh business, reached an exclusive sponsorship pact for ‘Smosh Live!’ with the Wm. Wrigley Jr. Co.’s youth-targeted 5 Gum brand that includes branded content before, during and after the live broadcast.”

The pay version of YouTube announced it will carry a series based on Lionsgate's "Step Up" movie franchise, an untitled 10-episode drama executive produced by the movies' star, Channing Tatum, starting 2017. It begins to puts YouTube Red in the ballpark with Netflix, Amazon and Hulu in the SVOD business.

No the NRA and Smith & Wesson aren't giving away guns to people in urban areas who can't afford to buy their own. But a YouTube hoax--nicely done, with officials logos, etc.-- says that starting July 4 if you buy specific Smith & Wesson guns, the gun rights organization and gun maker will help make America safer by gifting a gun to a person in the urban area of your choosing. 

SoundCloud is adding video ads in the Unites States. “The ads will pop up between tracks, when your screen is on and the SoundCloud app is actively engaged in the foreground,” CNet reports. “In other words, you'll see video ads when you're actually using it, not when SoundCloud is playing in your pocket.”

Viacom-owned BET is starting an $4 a month subscription service called BET Play but you won't be able to buy it in the U.S. The channel is @worried that would eat away at its cable channel.  In this country, there's BET Now, an authenticated service.

Instead of wasting time and money on its own live-streaming technology, Tumblr is simply integrating existing live video solutions. To start, the platform is launching support via YouTube, YouNow, Kanvas and Upclose.