YouTube allows authors to “swear moderately” – without threatening content monetization
YouTube is easing its controversial content monetization policy, which meant that authors lost money if their videos contained swearing.
The rules, introduced in November 2022, deprived authors of monetization if profanity was used in the first 15 seconds of a video, effectively removing ads from such content.
Following an outcry from creators, in January 2023, YouTube announced that it would revise the policy. Currently, profanity on the service is divided into “moderate” and “strong” – the former will not be blocked in any way, and the latter will receive “limited advertising.” This applies to the first 7 seconds of the video.
Further, YouTube does not provide a clear enough wording: if obscene words are heard in the “most part” of the video repeatedly, monetization will be canceled, but it is not specified whether this applies to both variants of swearing.
Profanity used in audio tracks at the beginning, end, or in the background of a video will not affect the monetization status; however, swearing in titles or thumbnails will immediately remove the video from advertising.
The company also promises to review the videos of creators affected by the stricter policy introduced in November. The updated rules came into effect on March 7.
Starting next month, one of the most unpleasant ad formats – overlay banners that appear at the bottom of videos when viewed on a desktop computer – will also disappear from YouTube. And these are not the last changes in 2023 – Neil Mohan, who took over as CEO of YouTube after Susan Wojcicki’s departure, announced a “non-advertising” increase in revenue for the service and the authors themselves, additional monetization of subscriptions, in-app purchases, and other paid services.
