Logan Paul, a famous YouTube personality made the news a few weeks ago when he posted a controversial video that apparently made fun of suicide.
Other similar videos such as the abovementioned example reportedly prompted the video-sharing platform to update its video monetization policies. The company wants to protect their users, investors, and advertisers from questionable content that somehow make it through the filters.
In this regard, publishers will need to meet a stricter set of requirements to be eligible for the YouTube Partner Program.
Before And After
Last year, the prerequisites only allowed content creators to have at least 10,000-lifetime views on any of their videos in order to receive compensation. In retrospect, the company apparently realized that despite the challenging metric, it cannot weed out what it referred to as "bad actors."
According to the updates rules, only those who have accumulated 4,000 "watch hours" over a span of 12 months together with a minimum of 1,000 subscribers will qualify for the YouTube Partner Program.
Improving The Screening Process
Prior to the Logan Paul video controversy as well as others more before it, YouTube relied on its in-house algorithm to screen for copyright infringement and nudity. Meanwhile, sensitive content such as violence and other questionable entries usually make it past the system. The algorithm used by platform has yet to learn other distinctions in order to effectively classify videos.
"There's no denying 2017 was a difficult year, with several issues affecting our community and our advertising partners," says Paul Muret, a Google executive. "We are passionate about protecting our users, advertisers, and creators and making sure YouTube is not a place that can be co-opted by bad actors," added Muret.
Furthermore, the streaming platform assured everyone that all videos from publishers who are qualified as Google Preferred will be handled differently. The changes will take effect by February and will be limited to content for the United States. The rest of the world will get the same monitoring process after March.
Moving Forward
These changes will hopefully give YouTube advertisers assurance that its ads will only come up with appropriate videos. Google Preferred videos will carry the guarantee that an actual person has approved the content after a careful review.
YouTube has already penalized offenders like Paul Logan and some others with revoked Google Preferred privileges. Hopefully, this will set an example to discourage content creators who plan to make a quick buck from viral videos and ad monetization.
Suicide Should Be Taken Seriously
The internet reacted unfavorably to the video uploaded by Logan Paul, which included footage of a man who apparently died by suicide. Viewers noted that Paul made fun of the situation and speculated it was intentional. Several celebrities and other YouTube personalities condemned his behavior.
This prompted the YouTuber to take down the video and issue a public apology for his actions.
