Police want child 'fight club' stopped

Websites urged to remove fighting kids videos

Video websites like Youtube have been called upon to crack down on the number of videos of children fighting appearing on their websites.

Videos showing children as young as 11 fighting, brutal attacks on young girls and vandalism are posted regularly to many of the leading video websites and UK police chiefs believe the providers must work harder to combat the rise in this kind of violent content.

An investigation by the TV programme Panorama has discovered hundreds of examples of youth violence being regularly posted on sites like Youtube and Liveleak, among others.

“Youtube and companies like them are responsible for policing themselves,” Brian Moore, Deputy Chief Constable of Surrey, told the BBC, calling on the providers to clean up their act.

“If they think that the police should be doing this then I should tell you that is not our position,” he said. “They are responsible for what is on their products - they are making a profit from this. We would question who is in a financially better position to police the likes of Youtube - those in the private sector, who are earning huge amounts, or police forces which are currently having to stretch budgets?”

However, Youtube reiterated that it relies on users to flag up 'inappropriate’ content while Liveleak, which views everything before it gets posted, claimed that this is what’s happening in real life and it will continue to show it.

Panorama: Children’s Fight Club airs tonight on BBC1 at 8.30pm.