YouTube facing questions as pick-up artist is jailed for two years

A YouTube pick-up artist has been jailed for two years for threatening behaviour as the social media giant faced pressure to explain why they failed to act against him.

In what is believed to be the first case of its kind Adnan Ahmed - who called himself Addy A-game in secretly filmed videos posted online - was jailed and placed on the sex offenders register for approaching women as young as 16 in the street.

Last night Google, which owns YouTube, was facing questions over why the 38-year-old had been able to post videos of his predatory behaviour for two years without them taking action.

Damian Collins, chair of the Commons culture committee, said: "I’m concerned that YouTube doesn’t act quickly enough against harmful content like this.

“It often seems that without an independent investigation exposing this kind of content, that it will just sit there. That’s why we need an independent regulator to hold companies to account when they fail in their duty of care."

Ahmed was part of a global network of "pick-up artists" who practise what they call 'game' in order to seduce women, many stopping strangers on the street.

The industry is worth millions and many use social media to promote their "how to" videos. 

Ahmed’s YouTube channel, now deleted, had gathered almost 5,000 subscribers as over a two-year period he posted hundreds of videos.

They showed Ahmed following and approaching female targets as his team secretly filmed and recorded him bragging about his sexual conquests and how he had to come through “a lot of last minute resistance”.

In one he apparently posted the audio of his sexual exploits before filming a sleeping woman and an unused condom.

The videos were removed by YouTube for breaching the site's rules after Ahmed was exposed by the BBC's The Social in January.

He was arrested and denied any wrongdoing but was convicted of threatening and abusive behaviour at Glasgow Sheriff Court.

It emerged that Police Scotland had previously been warned about his activities on two occasions, including by a community enforcement officer who has seen him on the streets of Glasgow.

The women who came forward to give evidence against Ahmed had been left “mentally scarred” by his approaches, the court heard.

One was aged 21 when he approached her in the street, made comments about her appearance, touched her cheek and tried to kiss her, leading to her pushing him away.

He also approached two schoolgirls, aged 16 and 17, asked the older one if she was at school, if she was married and if she wanted to meet for coffee.

He also approached two other women in the street, with all the offences taking place between 2016 and 2019 in Glasgow city centre and Uddingston.

Sheriff Lindsay Wood found there was a "significant sexual aspect" to the offences and placed Ahmed on the sex offenders register for 10 years.

"Two schoolgirls were shamefully targeted by you in a quiet lane and the three other women were considerably younger than you,” he said.

"Why on earth would you consider it appropriate to touch a complete stranger on the cheek and try to kiss them?"

Alison Thewliss, the SNP MP for Glasgow Central, said that the details of the case were “extremely disturbing”.

“It is completely unacceptable to pursue women in this manner and subject them to predatory behaviour, and I hope this sentence will send a strong message to anyone else who might be tempted to act in a similar way,” she said.

“Social media companies must do much more to shut down similar sites and tackle the harassment of women and girls.”

Google has not responded to a request for comment.