YouTube alienated a large portion of its audience this week by demonetizing all of their smaller content creators. In an email sent out to millions of independent artists, musicians, and journalists, YouTube informed them that they were no longer eligible for advertising revenue on the site because their channels were simply not big enough.
The site now requires a minimum of 1000 subscribers and 4000 hours of viewed content, automatically disqualifying a large chunk of their creators from monetization.
Below is an email that the company sent out to up and coming Youtubers:
A statement from YouTube read:
“These higher standards will also help us prevent potentially inappropriate videos from monetizing which can hurt revenue for everyone. Though these changes will affect a significant number of channels, 99% of those affected were making less than $100 per year in the last year, with 90% earning less than $2.50 in the last month. Any of the channels who no longer meet this threshold will be paid what they’ve already earned based on our AdSense policies. After thoughtful consideration, we believe these are necessary compromises to protect our community."
The company also said that the change in policy was intended to “prevent bad actors from harming the inspiring and original creators around the world who make their living on YouTube.”
However, having a small channel does not make someone a "bad actor," in fact, some of the worst and most inappropriate content has come from the whales of YouTube, not the little fish. It is also important to mention that with this new policy, if a smaller channel has a video go viral overnight, and suddenly reaches the threshold, they may not be able to monetize this potentially once in a lifetime opportunity. This certainly ends up helping YouTube and hurting independent media.
But this should be expected.
As The Free Thought Project reported last year, a group of whistleblowers from YouTube claimed that the company has allowed at least 100,000 predatory accounts to leave inappropriate comments on videos with no repercussions as “YouTube’s system for reporting sexualized comments left on children’s videos has not been functioning correctly for more than a year.”
The moderators, who are referred to as YouTube’s “Trusted Flaggers,” are charged with flagging inappropriate content and reporting the users who are violating the platform’s policies. However, they claim that in many cases, the accounts they report face no consequences. These accounts have millions of subscribers and these videos have hundreds of millions of views, and many of them would be unaffected by this change.
Many smaller YouTubers are placing the blame on the likes of Logan Paul or PewDiePie who have made headlines with insensitive and racist material. Although, whales like PewDiePie have no problems with the new rules, as it wipes out some of their competition.
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This is a devastating situation for may content creators, but luckily there is a solution on the blockchain. Many of the YouTubers who have become disenfranchised with the site are moving their content to DTube, which is a decentralized video hosting platform where users are paid in cryptocurrency for "likes" and comments.
As the big dogs shoot themselves in the foot, a revolution in social media is happening on platforms like DTube and Steemit. The dinosaur social media platforms are losing their relevance as we expose their censorship and subservience to special interests like the advertisers who have access to all your personal data. If you truly want to be a part of the next step, we invite you to join Steemit today. You have nothing to lose and everything to gain.
Agreed, and I even did a rather large Steemit post recently talking about this very thing and how YouTubes actions may very possibly lead to a large number of new and smaller YouTube channels to move over to another platform such as Steemit/Dtube.
A Detailed Update On YouTubes Monetization Program Changes, And What It Might Mean For Steemit/Dtube!
https://steemit.com/steemit/@budz82/an-deatiled-update-on-the-youtubes-monetization-program-changes-and-what-it-might-mean-for-steemit-dtube
This is the only response to centralization, which always leads to abuse, and we will continue to see it. Both dtube and steemit are going to be safehavens from it. Resteeming
Wow amazing post, we have nothing to lose and everything to gain thanks for sharing.
I strongly suggest not closing your accounts on youtube.
Instead, leave your stuff up there, and post a video about your views on what youtube has done and that people should start using ad blockers on all your videos. Tell your subscribers where else they can find your.
I would continue to post your videos to youtube. Let them pay for the hosting.
Deleting your whole account, and trying to give the finger to youtube doesn't work. They don't care.
They were designed, built and funded to be a central control of information flow. It is not about content creators. It was never about content creators. That was just the sales pitch.
Disclaimer: I am just a bot trying to be helpful.
Thanks, @tftproject For your valuable and informative post.
We gather a lot of information & increase our skill
by you post.
I will wait for your upcoming post.
@Resteem done
I have been encouraging all creators to come to Dtube/Steemit for a while now. I think this platform is a game changer and those of us who create content should be compensated for our efforts.
I'm one of those small content creators. One of the factors motivating me to get started on Steemit was when YouTube demonetized my channel because it had fewer than 10,000 views. Although I'd only earned about 1 cent in ad revenue at the time, I felt that just as my channel was starting to gather momentum, YouTube was changing the goalposts.
Sure enough, my channel recently hit the magical 10,000 views number, but now once again it is no longer eligible for ad monetisation because the goalposts have been changed again.
I want to start broadcasting on Dtube, but can't get it to work... yet. I haven't really had time to concentrate on it. Too many other things going on in my life. Constant distractions.
But I am so grateful to YouTube for pushing me in the direction of Steemit. Thanks YouTube! And bye bye!
Finally an alternative! Let's hope it picks up quickly
I created my first video today and tried to upload on Dtube, it didn't work out so I had to upload it to YouTube. I hope it will work out when I try again, maybe just beginners unluck?
Try using Chrome, I had a lot of issues with Dtube as well at first but was able to get it all working by using Chrome instead of Firefox/IE.
Thanks for the tip :)
Corporate fascism, algorithmic censorship.