YouTube is one of the most frequented websites in America.
It’s almost baffling how many people find success by making videos and then posting them on YouTube.
Five years ago, I would have never believed someone who told me they made money by recording themselves playing video games.Now, it’s a legitimate way to earn income.
However, the way they are earning money is not from making videos. YouTube is not the company paying these people. They earn money through how many times an ad is viewed on their videos. This is where YouTube’s latest policy change comes into effect — and it’s done rightfully so.
YouTube is no longer monetizing ads that are placed on videos that include the following: sexually suggestive content, violence, inappropriate language, promotion of drugs and the discussion of war or other sensitive subjects.
These topics happen to be the subjects of many videos on YouTube from famous video makers.
Turns out, according to a YouTube spokesperson, these are not new policies and have been in place ever since YouTube decided to allow ads to be monetized. The only new aspect of this situation is YouTube is now enforcing these regulations with a notification system.
YouTubers learned of these policies the hard way. Suddenly, they were having their ads taken off of the videos or they were no longer being paid for the ad views.
In the past, YouTubers would have to go to the page that shows the analytical information about each individual video to learn if their ads were safe.
Now, YouTubers receive an email each time videos are demonetized.
It’s good that YouTube is finally notifying each video maker when they take the money away. Imagine expecting a paycheck to come through when in fact, they were no longer being paid because of something they said the other day.
Real companies have to notify their employees when they aren’t getting paid. In other terms, it’s called being fired. This type of business is different, though, so it makes the notification system a bit trickier.
I agree that some videos are not ad-friendly. It’s not appropriate to advertise on videos that have sexual content or strong vulgar language, but some YouTubers are making videos that have thought-provoking ideas.
Some people rely on YouTube to detail certain subjects like politics or war. Yes, there are news websites and actual newspapers, but people like these YouTubers because they say what they want to hear.
A lot of these YouTubers quit their jobs to become “YouTube famous,” which isn’t an excuse or a reason to remove these policies, but it is understandable why they are angry with YouTube. A large group of them are going so far as to claim that these policies are a form of censorship.
To be fair, many companies won’t place their ads on controversial subjects. Disney wouldn’t place an ad in a Playboy Magazine. The same principle applies to online videos.
I believe YouTube is trying to make their platform more user-friendly, even if it is at the expense of video makers and their dependence on the ads.
mmgarbac@indiana.edu
