YouTube's... Questionable New Ad Policies

 

    Youtube had been, for the past decade, a practical monopoly on individually produced internet videos. The service has made millionaires, given platforms to those worth hearing, and encouraged free speech (for the most part). For many creators, the success of the site has brought them enough personal enrichment that they have been able to pursue passion projects and accomplish lifelong dreams. 

    There has long been question about the company's content policy, such as their censoring of channels that tend towards the political far right, blocking individuals who leave questionable comments, and many other issues - but that is not the focus for now. Far more subtle and problematic is YouTube's demonetization policy. This is designed (in theory) to protect advertisers and creators, but has often been weaponized against individuals who provoke or make controversial comments.

    This has always been a problem, but became much worse in November of last year, when the new Adsense policies revealed that all videos, even ones where the creator will not benefit, are able to have ads attached to them. This means that YouTube will now be able to profit further off of small creators not yet eligible for ad revenue, benefit from videos that are demonetized, and take advantage of all individuals involved.

    This blatantly anti-individual policy change is a problem for all involved, and may prove to be another step towards being replaced by a more pro-consumer platform. While no one reading this will likely boycott YouTube as a direct result of it, it shows one thing clearly - supporting creators through personal backing (such as Patreon and others,) will be far more effective and useful than be simply watching ads on YouTube.