In exactly 18 seconds his video ‘YouTube is run by fools’, ProZD makes its feelings about the platform’s recent restrictions on foul language crystal clear: “That’s the dumbest fucking shit I’ve ever heard.”
The timing of the tirade was deliberate, intended to test the company’s updated ‘approach to profanity’ announced in November: YouTube will now restrict ads or completely demonize a creator’s video if they swear within the first 15 seconds. That may not seem like a big deal in itself, but it also seems to apply to every video YouTubers once made – and they cursed a lot.
ProZD is far from the only creator to speak out about the changes, as YouTube is seemingly in the process of demonetization, which affects creators’ pay. From the start, creators say YouTube’s communication has been inadequate. Some had to learn about the change after taking to Twitter for help, and they say it’s been hard to get to grips with exactly how the rules are being applied.
“We are making some adjustments”
In short, YouTubers think the policy change has been a bit of a shitshow — or, as they might have to describe it in their videos, an “unfortunate situation.” Now, after weeks of complaints, YouTube promises to fix the problem.
“Over the past few weeks, we’ve heard from many creators about this update,” said YouTube spokesperson Michael Aciman The edge. “That feedback is important to us and we are making some adjustments to this policy to address their concerns. We will reach out to our maker community shortly as soon as we have more to share.”
YouTube’s crackdown on bad language is part of a set of rules designed to ensure videos are “advertiser appropriate.” If a creator swears within the first 15 seconds of a video, their video may not be eligible for ads; a video is even more likely to be demonetized if it contains a swear word within the first seven seconds. A video may also be ineligible if a creator swears by the “majority of the video.” The language is soft – makers ability are demonetized, and there is no definition of what constitutes YouTube’s “majority of the video” line.
Words are usually treated equally under the policy. Calling someone an “asshole” is like calling them an “asshole”, although “damn” and “hell” are fine. In short: “Content that contains profanity or vulgarity […] may not be suitable for advertising,” according to YouTube’s guidelines.
If that was the whole story, creators probably wouldn’t have much of a problem with it; it’s understandable that advertisers like that Apple or Disney wouldn’t want their family-friendly posts immediately followed by a diatribe of colorful language.
But YouTube doesn’t give creators a chance to adapt to the new policy: it applies the rules to uploaded videos before the change – potentially years of content for many creators. “I don’t think it’s entirely fair to penalize older videos that were made before the rules came into effect,” YouTuber LS Mark told me. The edge. It has been a common complaint among people treating the problem; they feel that YouTube expects them to not only make videos to the standards it has now, but to those standards ability implement in the future. In a video, YouTuber RTGame talked about how devastating it was to refresh the YouTube Studio page, viewing videos from more than a year or two ago is demonetizedand therefore may have a limited range.
It doesn’t help that YouTube has gone back and forth with swearing. The platform was updated in April 2021 its rules to enable monetization of videos containing “the use of moderate profanity (e.g. shit and bitch) in the first 30 seconds”. If you took that rule change to heart, you may have created videos that are no longer allowed to earn ad revenue.
There are also complaints that YouTube is not clearly communicating the change. In a popular video about the situationYouTuber Cr1TiKaL described the company as treating its policy changes “like a government secret” and said his YouTube contact didn’t even know about the change until he looked it up.
“YouTube is definitely not communicating big changes like this in an effective way, and it’s infuriating,” said ProZD, whose name is SungWon Cho. The edge. “I didn’t find out until early January and it was only because a video of me got demonetized and people on Twitter told me about the policy.”
Cho also said he struggled even to say which of his videos the policy applied to. “It’s hard to say exactly how much revenue has been lost due to this new policy change,” he said, but estimated it was “just under a hundred.”
The lack of notifications when a video violates the new guidelines is compounded by YouTube’s inconsistent application of the rules, creators say. “What gets hit is completely random,” LS Mark said. “There are videos that monetize only to be demonetized again the next day. It’s a constant stress to worry about.”
Creators argue that systems put in place by YouTube to correct demonetization are of little help and may initially be vague about why videos were restricted in the first place. The platform can provide detailed feedback on why a video has been age-restricted (meaning it can’t be viewed by people under the age of 18 or who aren’t signed in with a Google account) or demonized as a creator submits the video for manual review, but this comes with risks. If your video doesn’t pass that review, creators are stuck with ads that are banned or demonetized for good.
That’s not a good feeling if the only reason you reached out was so you could figure out exactly what to remove from old videos using YouTube’s built-in tools. “I asked the YouTube outreach team if I could remove the offensive content and restore my age-restricted videos, and they said no,” said RTGame in a video.
New profanity restrictions aren’t the only concern for some creators, either, as YouTube’s updated violent content policy also changes video game rules, introducing similar restrictions for the first seconds of a video and thumbnails. Of course, this change also retroactively affects numerous creators on the platform who have made a name (and a living) with gaming content, sometimes with direct support from YouTube itself.
These restrictions, how they are applied and how they were communicated, are leading some creators to question YouTube’s role as one of their main sources of income. “I already knew that YouTube is not a stable place to generate consistent revenue,” says LS Mark. “I’ve been trying to put my eggs in multiple baskets over the past year to see what else might work, but this definitely cements it in my mind.”
Cho echoed a similar sentiment. “I’m not necessarily looking for a backup platform, but it just encourages me to continue making plans for my future that doesn’t involve YouTube.”
Other creators who have commented on the situation have expressed their unwillingness to rely on YouTube monetization, some long before these policy changes were made. Philip DeFranco, a YouTuber known for introducing his videos with the phrase “‘S’up you beautiful bastards”, addressed concerned fans in a movie. ‘I’ve been on the platform [for] 15 years, and there’s a reason why I burned in sponsors,” he said, referring to the fact that monetization on YouTube is unreliable.
YouTubers should be happy to hear that YouTube is reviewing the policy, but the company has yet to provide details on how far-reaching those changes will be. “I absolutely think YouTube should roll back the policy,” Mark said before the company told us it would be making changes.
“I definitely feel the changes very badly,” said Cho. “This sucks.”
Janice has been with businesskinda for 5 years, writing copy for client websites, blog posts, EDMs and other mediums to engage readers and encourage action. By collaborating with clients, our SEO manager and the wider businesskinda team, Janice seeks to understand an audience before creating memorable, persuasive copy.