• The New York Times, Friday, October 6, 2006 11:30 AM

Videos of the Iraqi insurgency are appearing on video-sharing sites like YouTube and Google Video. The videos aren't being uploaded by the insurgents; citizens in the U.S. and other countries are starting to upload clips from Jihadist Web sites showing graphic images of American troops writhing around on the ground, bleeding and wounded. Should YouTube allow this? It has always removed content repeatedly flagged for being "inappropriate." But does it have any way of guarding against such video being uploaded? It's a political issue, to be sure--especially since the Bush administration has restricted photos of U.S. soldiers' coffins and has presided over the combat video released by the American media.

YouTube users are getting raw footage they wouldn't otherwise be able to see, but from a commerce perspective, imagine that YouTube sold 10-second video ads across its network--and you're an advertiser who decided to buy the most popular videos on the network. One day your ad pops up over a video showing insurgent attacks against American troops in Iraq. This is precisely why advertising is such a tricky proposition on YouTube. There is a ton of questionable content floating around the viral video site, and advertisers don't want to offend or be questionable, which makes a network buy an impossibility for YouTube to offer and for advertisers to participate in.

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