It would be nice to live in a world in which creators only upload original content, but since we don’t live in that fantasy land, YouTube is making some changes. The video platform is tightening its enforcement of its monetization guidelines to crack down on channels that specialize in “mass-produced or repetitive” content.
YouTube announced the new enforcement parameters via a bulletin on a page dedicated to tracking platform-wide policy updates. Per the bulletin, which was posted at the start of July, creators are required to publish “original” and “authentic” videos if they wish to reap revenue from the YouTube Partner Program.
More details can be found on the page that lists YouTube’s channel monetization policies. Creators who reupload content from other sources will need to “change it significantly” to comply with YouTube’s terms. Videos must also possess clear value for viewers to be eligible for monetization. “Your content should be made for the enjoyment or education of viewers, rather than for the sole purpose of getting views,” reads the policy page.
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In a tweet, YouTube clarified that repetitive, mass-produced videos have always been ineligible for the Partner Program. The main change here concerns the platform’s enforcement of its policies, which will be enhanced by technological updates.
Much of the coverage surrounding the policy update has centered on the reaction genre, which has long been criticized as a glorified form of content piracy. But in the opinion of someone who peruses hundreds of low-effort channels while compiling our Tubefilter charts, fans of SSSniperWolf can rest easy. I don’t think this change is aimed at reaction channels; it has everything to do with YouTube Shorts.
YouTube loves to tout the high viewership and cultural impact of its TikTok-style format. At the recently-concluded Cannes Lions festival in France, YouTube CEO Neal Mohan revealed that Shorts now averages 200 billion views per day.
That’s a jaw-dropping number, but what is the quality of those views? Each week, our YouTube viewership rankings are filled with channels that peddle the exact sort of mass-produced and repetitive videos YouTube is trying to bar from monetization.
New Man Magic (pictured above), which finished 30th in June’s Global Top 100 after adding nearly 1.7 million monthly subscribers, gets millions of views on reuploaded videos whose titles are changed to shill for a product called the “VitaWear Smart Band.” On the more repetitive side of things, there are channels like Oren Shorts, which added nearly 1.2 million monthly subscribers in June to finish 69th in the Global Top 100. Almost all of the top-performing Oren Shorts videos have the same title, and they share the exact same premise: Italian Brainrot characters traversing endless-runner mobile games.
The problem of Shorts spam has become so severe that there are now guides showing creators how to profit from short-form reuploads. YouTube has protected rights holders for nearly two decades with its Content ID system. Now, it needs to step up its enforcement to ensure that violative channels can’t make a quick buck from piracy.
