Canbury

Others moved into niches, such as Vimeo, which hosted high-quality videos by musicians and film-makers.

Google decided that instead of trying to beat the competition, it would buy it and acquired YouTube for $1.65 billion in October 2006.

Another tradition at the Old Bailey is that the court presided over by the most senior judge displays one of the five great swords of the City of London. If the senior judge adjourns the sword is placed in the court of the next most senior judge. One day early in my judicial career I was sitting later than normal and was the only judge left when to my surprise the court door opened and an attendant sombrely carried in the sword and laid it on the bench. I think the defendant thought I might be proposing a rapid beheading.

estimated 576,000 hours of video are added daily to YouTube – vastly more than the new releases on Netflix.

In one month alone, November 2017, YouTube was watched by an estimated 91 million Americans and by 21 million people in Britain.

Though only 38, Casey Neistat is something of the grand old man of YouTube. He became a viral sensation in 2003 when he uncovered Apple’s attempts to keep people locked into buying its products by making batteries in its iPods irreplaceable – and quick to wear out. He parlayed that into making independent films and an eight-part television show for American cable network HBO. He joined YouTube in 2010 and is approached by its executives when they want to publicly admit to and atone for transgressions against the community. He has 10 million subscribers, but his power eclipses even that vast number.

Neistat’s beef was that people didn’t just go on YouTube to make money – they did it because they wanted to create.

YouTube is different to a conventional media company: its reach is wider, its diversity broader, its demographic younger, and its power stronger.

‘Social media makes every single person that participates in it a content producer as well as consumer. Content flow is no longer coming out of TV networks: it’s coming out of users.’

Israeli entrepreneurs launched Metacafe in 2003. Two were started at the end of 2004 – Vimeo established a platform for independent film-makers and Grouper hosted the sharing of photos, video and music.