How content on YouTube will look like in the future?
At the beginning of the new year, YouTube is facing a new content reformation under the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). Starting from January 2020 creators are obligated to mark their videos if they are directed to kids under 13 years old. Those videos are going to be demonetized and lose their ability to carry personalized ads, comments and end screens.
This decision has been made to protect children’s best interests. Videos that are going to be labeled as “targeted to kids” will prevent data collection for all viewers. However, that news had a tremendous impact on YouTubers with this type of niche.
Creators are being held directly responsible by the FTC. So if the FTC decides that we are indeed targeting children, we’ll be fined. That is frightening.
Dan Eardley reviews collectible toys on his channel. He feels stressed about this act, especially because it is not very clear which type of content can be considered “kid directed” and which not.
Another creator stresses out the prejudice against gaming content:
The top 3 games on YouTube right now are Fortnite, Minecraft, and Roblox, which are generally non-violent and child-centric games, especially Roblox. Now, we can’t make videos on more mature video games because they’ll get demonetized, but if we make videos on child-friendly games, they’re also now going to get demonetized. What do we do?
YouTube is a social media platform that determines what is popular. With the COPPA act, the gaming industry is taking a serious hit, which it may not recover from.
What type of content is acceptable?
The answer is: Nobody really knows!
Certainly, YouTube has specific policies regarding the content that is eligible for monetization. However, many YouTubers are getting demonetized without violating the platform’s policies. For this reason, YouTube has been accused of being vague and reluctant to disclose exactly how its algorithm works.
YouTube’s “Suggested Videos” section is highly problematic as well. The algorithm builds up users’ profiles by the videos they are clicking on. But it doesn’t have a built-in function to recognize dangerous behavioral patterns. This has led YouTube to suggest children content to pedophiles.
Also, there are many cases where creators are accusing YouTube of being biased against specific content. This includes mental illness, cursing and many more. All of these make us wonder. What will the content on YouTube look like in the future?
What’s left for people to advertise on? Because now you can’t advertise on content aimed at kids. They’re already not monetizing a bunch of other content. They’re already not running ads on channels where people curse a lot, channels where people talk about mental health issues. Videos about LGBTQ issues aren’t advertiser-friendly. What do people make?
Melissa Hunter is a professional consultant and expert on family and children relations, and YouTube. She points out the question we are all thinking about. Where is YouTube going with all these?
YouTube is a privately held company that drives revenue from its ads. The main way of a user to sell their content on YouTube is by allowing ads on their videos. Those ads come from advertisers that are collaborating with YouTube. So it has been suggested that the platform provides extra targeting options to its advertisers, who do not want their brand to be associated with controversial issues. For this reason, some type of content is being promoted more than others.
Content on YouTube is getting worse
Getting noticed on YouTube is a hard task. And the few YouTubers that manage to rise above the competition feel the need to generate continuous content. This is because Youtube’s algorithm favors channels that upload regularly and, more specifically, long videos.
This has led some YouTubers to go over the edge and create content that is insensitive or repulsive. Logan Paul, a known YouTuber with 20 million subscribers, posted last year a highly controversial video that met a huge backlash. While wandering with his friends at the Aokigahara Forest of Japan, he saw a dead body. Instead of turning his camera away, he kept shooting the body and his reaction. The video was later deleted and a public apology followed.
But what led Logan to this behavior? Maybe the ongoing pressure of every time to outperform himself?
But this wasn’t the first incident. Felix Kjellberg, known as PewDiePie, also uploaded a controversial video. As a part of his comedy show, he hired freelancers to dace holding up a sign. Felix chose the phrase “Death to all Jews”. Kris responded to the criticism that he did it for entertainment purposes and not to show his political views. However, that video attracted the attention of neo-nazis and extremists and nearly ruined Felix’s popularity.
How is YouTube handling these?
NOT GOOD ENOUGH
YouTube had always the tendency to leave creators responsible for their videos. Surely, the platform has policies, but it is on both sides’ best interest that the policies be obeyed. However, YouTube doesn’t have the power to do anything against inappropriate content other than delete it or give the creator a strike. Because YouTubers are not employed by the platform. Let’s add to this that it’s beneficial for YouTube that its ambassadors keep creating videos. Because they create more content to put ads on.
For all those cases, it has even been suggested that YouTube moderators are given one set of rules for top YouTubers and a different one for smaller ones. YouTube denies this. But as a private company, it isn’t regulated by US free speech laws, so there is no legal obligation for it to allow creators that publish such content to remain in the platform.
So what is YouTube doing eventually? Change its content policies! By doing so, YouTube is trying to regulate the “harmful” and controversial content being uploaded. However, this also affects smaller creators who probably were doing nothing wrong. Many YouTubers were already struggling with burnout because of the time they invest in their vlogs. And the changes in content policies make them feel even more helpless.
Author: Evi Tsokanaki
Created: 2019–12–04T14:20:00Z
Originally published at https://shabingo.com.
