Three Scottish teenagers from Glasgow’s Xcross gang put a video on YouTube in which they gloated over the killing of a 21-year-old father.

In the film they threaten another man - called Jinky - with the same punishment: “Jinky, wee man, get back to Norfy [a tower on a local council estate] before we murder ye like Willie Smith, ye dafty, do you want to get put in a box an’ all?”

Caught by the police, the three stars of the disturbing internet movie pleaded guilty to culpable homicide last week, allowing the story of their online bragging to be told. Plastered all over the Scottish newspapers last week, it is hardly surprising that the shock that such videos exist have begun to lead to calls for better regulation of the video-sharing website.

In the past fortnight MPs have queued up to criticise YouTube in an attempt to look tough on law and order, in response to the spate of gun crime. As a result, John Whittingdale, who chairs the Commons Culture Select Committee, is considering a public enquiry into the topic.

“What we’re seeing is the emergence of this, and a whole series of undesirable things emerging from new media,” Mr Whittingdale said. “There are also concerns about cyber-bullying and about the use by some Islamic fundamentalist groups of some pretty appalling websites.”

Ivan Lewis, a health minister, who has some responsiblity for “inter-generational issues”, delivered a warning in Sunday’s Observer that companies should “do everything in their power” to prevent such material appearing online - a clear hint of how far concerns have reached at the political level. On the other side of the fence, David Cameron called for curbs on violent music and games, as the Tory leader strayed close to the issue of online regulation.

The storm is an indication of how the “you can’t regulate the internet” debate is shifting. Two years ago, Lord Currie of Marylebone, Ofcom’s chairman, argued that there was no need for any specific internet regulation, because existing laws, such as those covering incitment to racial hatred, made illegal anything that was likely to provoke the most offense.

Yet there is a recognition privately in regulatory circles that the debate is being reopened - although there are no plans as yet for a formal Ofcom consultation - and acknowledgement that this is an issue that the Government may force the communications authority to consider.

“I’m not sure there is currently the case for any statutory intervention,” Mr Whittingdale said, “but we want to see Google and the internet service providers getting together and focusing on what might be done.” An inquiry from Mr Whittingdale’s committee is likely in the next few months.

YouTube, which is owned by Google, responded by saying that it has its own policing system. The network does have a set of “community guidelines”, which can be found on the terms of use part of the website. These rule out “graphic or gratuituous violence” and “pornography or sexually explicit content”, but the system relies on community policing.

Viewers unhappy with a video have to mark it as inappropriate and YouTube promises to review that clip within 30 minutes - although with six hours of content being posted every single minute at current rates, it is hard, if not impossible, to see how every single video can be examined.

A spokesman for the website says: “YouTube is, in the end, a mirror for society; if people don’t like what they see, changing the mirror isn’t the answer to the problem.”

It is unlikely that a solution lies with the expansion of Ofcom’s caller centre, which handles viewer complaints about television - “Who would pay for it?” one insider asks - but there is some interest, particularly among Conservatives, in trying to extend the familiar film rating system used by the British Board of Film Classification, which is concerned that its efforts to tighten standards by extending its remit to include computer games have been undone. For the moment, YouTube is resistant, although it does restrict some content to the over18s, but that is unlikely to satisfy the growing band of political critics; if the issues of children and gangs remains in the public eye for much longer - and it probably will - the prospect of tightening internet regulation becomes more and more likely. Or YouTube will have to lobby effectively.

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