YouTube Sheds More Light On ‘Creator Responsibility’ Policy, Which Has Penalized David Dobrik, Shane Dawson

YouTube is shedding additional light on its Creator Responsibility Initiative, a policy that delineates the ways in which creators — like David Dobrik, Shane Dawson, and Logan Paul — can get demonetized or suspended for causing harm to the community at large without expressly violating platform guidelines.

“Not to sound all dad-like here,” explains creator liaison Matt Koval in a new video, “but with great popularity comes great responsibility.”

The policy applies when massive creators engage in reckless or dangerous behavior — whether on video or not, Koval says — that YouTube and advertisers wouldn’t want to be associated with. The policy was forged in the aftermath of the Adpocalypse, and appears to have first been tendered against Paul amid his suicide forest controversy in order to protect the reputation and revenues of YouTube’s greater community of creators and advertisers. “When advertisers pull their spend,” Koval says, “everybody loses.”

You can check out the full Creator Responsibility policy right here, which shares examples of potentially violative behavior, including: intending to cause malicious harm to others, participating in abuse or violence, demonstrating cruelty, or participating in fraudulent or deceptive behavior that leads to real-world harm.

Punishments are determined by a team of experts, and can include: temporary or permanent demonetization, restrictions of videos in recommendations (including the homepage, trending tab, and ‘up next’), and loss of partner manager support.

“These situations are rare,” Koval says, “and often temporary. Privileges are often given back after a period of time and good behavior.”

You can check out Koval’s just-published explainer video on the policy below: