Anyone can access YouTube, upload content, and reach a certain number of subscribers. But when money enters the equation, the terms of service and the relationship between the platform and its creators change completely. Tensions between YouTube and some of the most popular so-called YouTubers over monetization are nothing new, but in the past few hours hundreds of videos have had their ads unexpectedly removed. What is really going on?
When Money Enters the Equation
Advertising on the web is an increasingly delicate and complex topic. Both NeoTeo and other colleague sites need advertising to survive, and that same process extends to many YouTubers who, while not reaching PewDiePie's level, create several videos each week and invest a lot of time and effort in them. These YouTubers also explore other routes, such as selling T-shirts and accessories, donations on platforms like Patreon, exclusive deals with certain brands, and so on... but the main source of income remains the advertising that accompanies the videos. In the past few hours, the people behind several channels and shows on YouTube have come out against the service because someone on the other side apparently decided to demonetize hundreds of videos. One of the affected, who has been closely following the incident, is Philip DeFranco, who reportedly managed to get in contact with YouTube staff and obtain more details.
https://www.youtube.com/embed/tJKfe4jjUdgThe Terms of Service and the Fallout
YouTube's right to demonetize videos is published in its terms of use, so the groundwork is covered from a legal standpoint. YouTube explains that the "inappropriate content" label for receiving ads can apply to videos with explicit violence, abuse, extremism, partial nudity, harassment, vulgar language, promotion of drugs and other controlled substances... the list goes on. The problem is that this massive demonetization process affected videos that have nothing to do with those exceptions. One female YouTuber stopped seeing ads on one of her videos about acne, and then we found the case of Luke Cutforth, who talked about depression in a short video from 2014, and still received the same block.
Naturally, the web reacted very badly to all these cases. Besides many people being angry out there (who accuse the site of censorship and of wanting to filter topics that aren't "politically correct"), what they ask for is better communication from YouTube. The site offers the option to appeal the block and reinstate ads on each video, but the process isn't the most user-friendly, and it adds frustration to a conflict that is already quite tense. In my humble opinion, I think YouTube tried to automate the demonetization process and it got out of hand, something similar to what happened at Facebook with a wave of fake news earlier this week. While it's not crazy to imagine an advertiser upset about seeing their product next to a video they consider "in bad taste", I hope it's a technical issue. Let's keep our radars on to see how the situation evolves.
