Selective Enforcement and Demonetization: The Direction YouTube is Headed
For a few years now (or, should I say a decade?), advertisers have been gradually transitioning to the Internet to advertise and work with influencers, especially on the world-renowned video hosting platform YouTube. Since 2007, content creators have been able to make a living on YouTube by monetizing their videos, or allowing ads to play before or midway through their videos. A percentage of that ad revenue goes to both YouTube and the content creator; therefore, the more clicks the video gets, the more ad revenue is produced for YouTube and its creators.
Within the past year, there has been a lot of controversy circulating YouTube due to their new and tough restrictions on what type of videos can be monetized or not. Such monetization restrictions are based on what is “suitable for advertisers” – a.k.a., what is suitable for children. In response to these harsh restrictions, many YouTubers have spoken out because they feel they are being treated unfairly in YouTube’s algorithm, and because they feel most of their content should be deemed appropriate. For instance, many of these restrictions have been deemed discriminatory by the YouTube community because videos about important subjects, such as sexuality, have been demonetized. On October 8th, 2017, transgender YouTuber Chase Ross posted two videos titled “How I Knew I Was Trans” and “Trans Jealousy”, which were immediately demonetized by YouTube. Ross later deleted and re-uploaded the same videos without the word “trans” in the titles, and those videos did not face demonetization.
Further, YouTube has likely been responsible for selective enforcement within their platform, which is when YouTube picks and chooses which content creators are hit with demonetization. YouTube channel h3h3 Productions called out this issue in their new video, “YouTube's Rules Don't Apply to Everyone.” In light of the mass shooting in Las Vegas last week, YouTuber Casey Neistat made a video on the subject, telling his eight million subscribers that all ad revenue on that video will be donated to Las Vegas. YouTube soon demonetized Neistat’s video due to the grim subject matter of “tragedies”. YouTube claimed that, “no matter the intent, [their] policy is to not run ads on videos about tragedies” (Team YouTube Twitter, 2017). However, late night show host Jimmy Kimmel posted a monologue on his YouTube channel addressing the Las Vegas shootings, but his video remained monetized.
H3h3 Productions also suggested that YouTube is potentially culpable for modifying their trending page to show the videos they want shown instead of videos that are actually trending that day. The same Jimmy Kimmel video, though being very popular that day, was posted as number one on trending – while YouTuber iDubbbz’s new video was not featured on the trending page when it received ten million views all in that same day.
This topic is interesting because while YouTube is a rather liberal place and one of the largest platforms for free speech, YouTube appears to be censoring the content produced on its site with its new guidelines and algorithm regulations. In a situation like Chase Ross’s, YouTubers will begin to stray from content they wish to make in fear of being demonetized. This will ultimately impact the future of YouTube because content creators will no longer feel free to produce good and important content that may be about touchy subjects.
According to web news source Phrasee, the reason YouTube brought advertisements to their platform in 2007 was to encourage the creation of high quality, original content to maintain viewership (2016). However, these close regulations and strict guidelines limiting free speech may stop the flow of high quality and original content on YouTube. If content creators cannot make a living off of their demonetized videos, they will not be able to afford to make high quality videos.
As social media bloomed, advertisers began shifting their efforts to advertising online instead of on television. YouTube is just a like a television network in a way – because it needs the funds and the audience to stay alive. In the very beginning, advertisers were the backbone of television programming due to sponsorships. This remains the case for YouTube content: advertisers are truly the foundation for high quality videos, be it a miniseries, an animation, or a well-researched discussion piece. Quality takes time, and time is money. Thus, YouTubers need advertisers and sponsors to stay afloat, otherwise YouTube viewership will drown.