YouTube has come out against calls for its content to be regulated in a similar way to traditional television and radio broadcasters, claiming the company itself is not a content creator but "a platform that distributes content".

The comments were made in the wake of a now-infamous video filmed in Japan by popular YouTuber Logan Paul, of what appeared to be the dead body of a man who had apparently killed himself.

The video was pulled after 24 hours but had already been watched 6.3 million times. Paul later apologised to his 16 million subscribers.

YouTube's chief business officer Robert Kyncl told the BBC: "We're not content creators; we're a platform that distributes the content... It doesn't absolve us of responsibility, we actually take that very seriously.

"The steps we're taking are not steps any government is asking us to do, these are the steps we're choosing to do because we believe that is the right thing to do."

Paul's video broke YouTube's community guidelines, but new measures are being put in place to help prevent similar videos being uploaded in the future.

The YouTuber was criticised from all circles for uploading the video on 31 December, as part of a series stemming from his trip to Japan. He issued an apology on 1 January but faced further backlash for the content of it.

"I've never faced criticism like this before, because I've never made a mistake like this before," he said. I denied doing it for the views, claiming he had hoped to make a "positive ripple on the internet" by raising awareness of suicide and suicide prevention. "I'm ashamed of myself," he added. "I'm disappointed in myself."

The next day he shared a video apology on his channel.

Last year, when the world's most subscribed-to YouTuber PewDiePie was found to have used racist language in a video, changes were made to the format making it harder for people to monetise videos.

The changes meant that adverts wouldn't be served on videos unless a channel had at least 1,000 subscribers and 4,000 hours of their content had been viewed over the previous 12 months.

These changes were criticised for seemingly punishing smaller channels, but Kyncl describes it as an "important step".

"We're protecting the advertiser and we're protecting creators earning a living on YouTube. We have to make sure we protect both and this gives us the time to do that. If you're really serious about it - you will continue."

This comes as YouTube prepares to launch its first original UK-based production, which has been produced by James Corden and will be fronted by comedian Jack Whitehall. Kyncl says it is using shows like it, and other recent shows involving pop stars Demi Lovato and Katy Perry, to "drive more interest to YouTube to benefit content creators."

YouTube