The Dangers of Unmoderated UGC

I really don’t want to be an alarmist. Lots of companies want to be hip and  ”web 2.0″ and let users create content. But lots of companies are scared of doing so. In the debate between leaving users free to create really cool stuff and restricting their access in case they do something unsavory, I generally come down on the side of the users. Most of the time, they will create really great stuff, and a small percentage will create something you’re not wild about.

You have to hedge your bets as much as you can. This is also akin to “trust, but verify”. Companies can and should let their users create content, but there has to be some sort of moderation plan in place. When the content being created is images or video, you really have to be careful.

This was brought into sharp focus this past weekend for Food Network. They host a reality-ish show called The Next Food Network Star that is a competition to be, um, the next Food Network star. They are currently taking applications for Season 6, and that includes the ability for applicants to upload a video to the Food Network site. Video that is, apparently, not moderated by anyone.

Food Network Humor caught Food Network with their pants down (pun intended). A video entitled “Heating up the Kitchen” was uploaded, stayed up for over 24 hours, and became the third most viewed video on the site (according to the comments on that blog entry). The problem? It was hard core porn.

Food Network Humor caught a screenshot of the video on their site, which was removed from the Food Network site. (They’ve blocked the nudie bits out, but I’m linking to it instead of publishing it just in case you’re at work or are sensitive to this kind of thing.)

I applaud that they want users to create content and upload it to their site. But as a company, you have to protect yourself against something like this happening. It doesn’t happen often, but it does happen. It would have taken someone extra time to review all the videos before posting, but it’s well worth it to make sure you aren’t hosting and promoting porn to your members. Trust, but moderate.

I’m guessing that someone on their web/community team had a very, VERY bad Monday.