YouTube recently announced that it’s opening up its long-held-but-never-really-accessible live streaming feature to the masses, taking the fight to other big services like Periscope, Meerkat, and perhaps to a lesser extent even Twitch.

For us, of course, the first thing to spring to mind is the potential for its adult uses. It didn’t take long for the top live-streamers on Meerkat to become dominated by models, so it’s hard not to think at least some people will want to use it as another tool to grow their following.

Currently, YouTube’s Community Guidelines prohibit any explicit (or indeed pornographic) videos – but there’s one exception: it’s allowed if it’s instructional or has educational value.

So, a video of ‘How to properly shave pubic hair’ is allowed, but a video without any other obvious educational value wouldn’t be.

It’s a fine line for YouTube, as a family-oriented video hosting site, but then it also can’t be too prudish either if it’s claiming to be a platform for any ‘creator’.

Controlling the stream

With the imminent opening of its live-streaming feature to everyone, that means there’s a dedicated team of people keeping watch over all the streams that are flagged for violating those community guidelines.

STG understands that this team is specifically trained to expedite reviews of live streams to make sure nothing slips through the net.

We have to wonder, though with a platform the size of YouTube, exactly how big is this team? It feels like it’ll be a colossal task once the feature is open to everyone; a time-frame currently defined by YouTube as “soon”.

The line of what’s deemed ‘educational’ and what isn’t is a fuzzy one, too. Would a live stream of someone shaving their pubic hair still be allowed, as the uploaded ones are?

Presumably so, but it’ll also be down to the specific judgement of the person that reviews that stream.

For now, it’s not a problem as only specific channels can access the feature, but it’s one that will arise sooner or later.