YouTube is taking a new approach to sensitive subjects. The video has altered its ad-friendly guidelines to permit monetization on videos that discuss topics like abortion, domestic abuse, and disordered eating.
Per YouTube’s previous guidelines, videos could be demonetized if they touched on “controversial issues.” Though that policy ensured brand safety for advertisers, it had significant ramifications for creators. Even the videos that took care when discussing controversial issues risked demonetization.
All that is about to change. In a recent upload on the Creator Insider channel, YouTube Lead for Monetization Policy Conor Kavanagh announced that his team is “allowing creators to earn more ad revenue on content discussing topics such as abortion and adult sexual abuse.” Kavanagh explained that creators can “fully monetize” those videos as long as they avoid “going into graphic detail.”
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YouTube’s ad-friendly guidelines explain what Kavanagh means by “graphic detail.” Videos on the aforementioned subjects are still at risk of demonetization if they utilize “descriptive language.” Any content featuring “graphic depictions” of those topics will have its ads turned off.
The new policy is part of YouTube’s attempt to grow its creator community while also recognizing the specters of misinformation and dangerous, imitable content. The Google-owned platform recently executed a similar pivot with regard to content that contests the results of the 2020 election. Those videos were once removed from the site, but they are now permitted once again.
The calculus leading to those decisions is being done at the top of YouTube’s corporate ladder. “My number one responsibility is keeping our ecosystem of creators, viewers, all of our partners safe on YouTube,” said YouTube CEO Neal Mohan in a recent interview with CBS News. “And I put that above anything else that we do.”
