  Online social media platforms such as YouTube have a wide, global reach.
However, little is known about the experience of low-resourced language
speakers on such platforms; especially in how they experience and navigate
harmful content. To better understand this, we (1) conducted semi-structured
interviews (n=15) and (2) analyzed search results (n=9313), recommendations
(n=3336), channels (n=120) and comments (n=406) of policy-violating sexual
content on YouTube focusing on the Amharic language. Our findings reveal that
-- although Amharic-speaking YouTube users find the platform crucial for
several aspects of their lives -- participants reported unplanned exposure to
policy-violating sexual content when searching for benign, popular queries.
Furthermore, malicious content creators seem to exploit under-performing
language technologies and content moderation to further target vulnerable
groups of speakers, including migrant domestic workers, diaspora, and local
Ethiopians. Overall, our study sheds light on how failures in low-resourced
language technology may lead to exposure to harmful content and suggests
implications for stakeholders in minimizing harm. Content Warning: This paper
includes discussions of NSFW topics and harmful content (hate, abuse, sexual
harassment, self-harm, misinformation). The authors do not support the creation
or distribution of harmful content.
