YouTube’s updated violence and profanity restrictions may retrospectively restrict gaming videos

YouTubers have reported that their work has been retrospectively tagged with unexpected age restrictions or demonstrated due to the platform’s recent rule changes regarding the use of profanity and violent content in videos uploaded to the site.

These changes first created by youtube in November explaining that the “platform’s approach to profanity is changing” (thanks, kotaku).

Now all profanity is “treated equally” throughout the site, meaning words like “shit” carry the same weight as “shit” in terms of inappropriate language use (however, the site has its stance on “hell” and “hell ” relaxed “damn” – these words are no longer considered profanity and can be used more freely).

YouTube used to classify swear words based on “severity levels” (mild, moderate, severe, or extreme), with moderate words being safe to use within the first 30 seconds of a video. It would not affect a creator’s ad revenue for that video.

YouTube now states that creators can use profanity after eight seconds of video (but not continuously) and still earn ad revenue, but any curses used in the first seven seconds of footage, including thumbnails and titles, “may not earn ad revenue.” “.

The same rules also apply to any violent content uploaded to the site, with in-game violence now being given special prominence by YouTube. Prior to these new restrictions, this policy applied to content that depicts real-world violence, not in-game violence.

While it may be easy for those uploading content to YouTube to now simply wait until seven seconds have passed to swear or play violent games that may violate these new guidelines, several members of the community have been stung by videos who have been reported and retrospectively age restricted – leaving them out of pocket as their older videos are no longer generating revenue.

To make matters worse, many have condemned YouTube for not communicating these changes more effectively.

Gaming YouTuber Daniel Condren of RTGame contacted YouTube after noticing that one of his videos had been age-restricted with no explanation from the company. His request to fix the problem was denied, and then he noticed that more and more of his videos were being restricted by YouTube for no reason — something he suspects only happened after he asked YouTube for help, because he had put his channel on his radar.

Eventually, Condren reached out to a YouTube representative about his issue and received the following response:

“All content available on the platform must follow this policy, regardless of when it was uploaded or when the policy was implemented.

“I would also like to take this opportunity to share that our systems are constantly being updated, which means content that [violates] Each of our policies can be identified by our system at any time after they have been uploaded to the platform. Likewise, content can be reported by viewers at any time after it is uploaded to YouTube and will be reviewed by YouTube teams.”

Condren said he now needs to reevaluate his relationship with the site. “My advice is if you get reported – don’t ask YouTube for help,” he wrote after his first attempts to challenge the age restrictions.

“You put your entire channel at risk of being analyzed and reported through the retrospective application of new policies. In my case, they were light-hearted curses. But because I asked for help, I was limited to a dozen videos.”

Not only Condren was surprised by the retrospective implementation of these restrictions. YouTube was further criticized for its poor communication with creators regarding these changes, with Penguinz0 uploading a video titled “Huge Youtube Change Just Ruined Many Channels”.

Penguinz0 called the platform’s decision to retrospectively restrict videos and not notify the community of these changes as “the biggest YouTube lack of communication ever” (their use of capital letters, not mine), explaining a video in which he used the word “shit”. was demonetized within the first few seconds. And that’s despite the fact that the video actually focused on “healthy topics” and good news.

Closing his video discussing these new restrictions and their implementation in older videos that predated the changes, Penguinz0 had this to say:

“If you’re just finding this out and wondering why your channel’s monetization has been demonstrated in the last 24 hours, I’m sorry it had to be me [tell you].

“Would have been a lot tastier if it came out of YouTube’s mouth as opposed to my ass. But it is what it is. I am very, very convinced that they will never really communicate political changes. At least not in any manner.”

Eurogamer has contacted YouTube for further comments.