YouTube is renaming one of its content policies and clarifying three kinds of videos will get creators’ channels demonetized.
More than 20 million videos are uploaded to YouTube every single day from millions of people around the world–and one of the platform’s biggest tasks is making sure all that UGC meets its content guidelines (and thus keeps advertisers happy and willing to spend their marketing budgets with Google).
Managing this much content means YouTube is constantly refreshing its rules to cover more use cases. One of the biggest examples of this refreshing is video games. If someone said to you, I’m not allowed to upload graphic violence to YouTube, you might think, Well yeah, no duh?
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But does Grand Theft Auto V gameplay count as “graphic violence”? YouTube, which has thrived off gaming content for decades, finally had to reckon with video games as a use case in 2019, and updated its Community Guidelines to separate out real violence from video game violence. Even to this day, though, it’s still making tweaks around what kind of video game content can be monetized.
Now, on top of an ever-growing library of content and an ever-growing community of creators, YouTube is contending with generative LLM technology being injected into every crevice of our digital experience–including by YouTube itself.
Gen AI has contributed significantly to our current era of slop content; social platforms are plagued by repetitive, minimal-effort videos that are formulated to keep people watching. (Raise your hand if you’ve been personally victimized by scrolling TikTok, or Shorts, or Reels, and coming across a clip from a movie with an AI voiceover saying something like, “THE BOY WAS ON THE VERGE OF DYING. HE LAID ON THE ROAD AND WISHED FOR HIS MOTHER’S FACE.”)
YouTube is addressing some of the issues around this era by clarifying what used to be called its “Inauthentic Content” policy. It’s renaming this section of its monetization guidelines to “Generic or Repetitive Content,” and outlining three types of videos that aren’t allowed.
To be clear, this is not a new policy from YouTube. Creators are not facing demonetization for new reasons.
As a YouTube spokesperson explains, “We’ve updated some of our public-facing guidance to give creators more actionable feedback when their channel violates our monetization policies. This is not a new policy, and our rules around content monetization have not changed.”
The three categories of videos that are not allowed to be monetized under this policy are:
- Generic or Repetitive Content
- Unsatisfying or Off-putting Content
- and AI Personas Related to Sensitive Topics
Generic or repetitive content is “content that looks like it’s made with a template, or that may feel repetitive to viewers after watching several videos in a row from the same channel,” YouTube explains.
Examples of violative content includes content with low educational value, little commentary, and minimal variation across numerous videos on the same channel; “videos where characters are put in the same situation over and over again with the same outcome”; image slideshows and templated storylines, and “AI-generated content made with generic or unoriginal templates giving the impression of mass production without adding the creator’s original, authentic insights or perspective.”
YouTube says creators can stay within good monetization graces if they make sure to put their own transformative “spin” on content.
As for “Unsatisfying or Off-putting Content,” this is a brand-new category (though again, this content was already not allowed to be monetized).
YouTube describes this content as “content that relies heavily on emotionally manipulative formulas, mimics existing formats or stories to a degree that the videos feel interchangeable, or appears designed to shock or surprise viewers for the sole purpose of getting views.”
Examples (written by YouTube) include…
- Content that repeatedly uses disturbing themes (such as violence or loss) without building a cohesive narrative
- Channels that heavily rely on generic templates or emotionally manipulative themes, like a series showing repetitive scenarios of animals in exaggerated distress or peril
- Content that lacks a clear narrative arc or logical progression, such as videos that stitch together unrelated or inconsistent AI clips to surprise or shock viewers
- Content that uses deceptive or misleading imagery or narratives, such as realistic visuals tricking viewers into believing a fake celebrity death or natural disaster has occurred
The third and last category pinpoints AI. YouTube is obviously cool with creators putting AI people in their videos–especially if those creators use Google’s own tools to do it–but says issues arise when creators are using AI to speak on “sensitive topics” that can have real-world consequences.
“This includes any content that presents itself as a human expert providing advice to viewers on topics such as health, legal issues, finances, or politics,” YouTube explains. “To protect viewers who may be confused or otherwise negatively impacted by this content, channels uploading this content will not be allowed to monetize.”
As you probably expect, grounds for demonetization are things like videos where an AI “doctor” talks up supposed wellness remedies, an AI “podcast host” giving out financial tips, and an AI “lawyer” giving legal advice.
While there are no material changes here in what YouTube allows, this updated policy should give creators a clearer idea of what they’re allowed to monetize–and give viewers an idea of what sort of content they should be reporting.
