This week YouTube suffered reprimands from MPs after failing to remove footage of a gang rape.

VP and General Counsel Kent Walker of Google attributed the mishap to "human error," according to the Guardian.

"Our reviewers review a lot of material and in some cases simply just make a mistake," he said.

The rape was viewed over 600 times before YouTube took it down. MPs called the mistake "incredible" and "absurd," citing this instance as proof that Google's means of dealing with offensive or illegal material are inadequate.

Currently, Google only reviews "harmful" videos when YouTube users flag them.

"The mistake that was made had to do with the way the individual reviewer coded the video," said Walker. "We've made that much harder, so there's a double trigger and it needs to be reviewed twice."