YouTube bullies must go, says deputy head

Children should be banned from posting videos on YouTube to crack down on bad behaviour and bullying, a senior London teacher believes.

Vincent Capaldi, deputy head of Catholic all-boys school Wimbledon College, monitors the website for footage concerning his school.

Last year, nine boys were suspended after he discovered a clip of them shouting obscenities and thumping a bus roof. Mr Capaldi warned the lure of showing off to friends via the internet was fuelling crazes such as "happy slapping" and cyber-bullying.

He admitted it would be difficult to stop the video postings but said it was currently too easy for children to put film recorded on phones on to the Google-owned website.

Mr Capaldi urged YouTube to "police" the site more effectively. "There are too many of these [type of] videos on there, with children behaving in a loutish, antisocial way," he said. He added that allowing anti-social behaviour to be broadcast on the site made it seem socially acceptable . Teacher unions have urged ministers to tell YouTube and social network sites, such as MySpace and Bebo, to stop "inappropriate" content postings.

A YouTube spokesman said the site relied on users to flag up inappropriate videos, which would be removed if they showed violence, abusive behaviour or someone's privacy being invaded.

He added: "YouTube has clear policies that prohibit inappropriate content on the site. Our community understands the rules and polices the site for inappropriate material. When users feel content is inappropriate they can flag it and our staff then review it as quickly as possible to see if it violates our terms of use. If users repeatedly break these rules we disable their accounts."