Here’s to 20 years of cat videos and misinformation
For every YouTube video that provides helpful DIY advice, there are plenty of others that spread conspiracy theories
It all started on April 23 2005, when a grainy 19-second video of the San Diego Zoo was posted on the platform YouTube by the site’s co-founder Jawed Karim. Twenty years later, and YouTube now boasts that more than 20-billion videos have been uploaded to its platform, arguably still one of the most beloved and influential movers in the digital space and one that has made stars, sparked global conversations and allowed us all to experience both the best and the worst of humanity.
In a birthday celebration presentation last week, YouTube reminded the world of its staying power, announcing that from March 2025 more than 20-million videos are uploaded every day on to the site and last year users posted an average of 100-million comments on videos a day. With smart TVs now becoming the primary means by which users in the US watch YouTube content and users spending an average of 50 minutes a day watching videos, YouTube has not so quietly become the most popular streaming service ...
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