The beginning of September has brought about the end of YouTube, according to many.
Countless tweets and YouTube accounts have been ranting against the recent monetization changes YouTube has made, which allows them to demonetize any videos that violate their terms of service for running ads — ranging from videos with profanity to videos that discuss “controversial” issues.
A huge argument against this relatively large change has been the vagueness of the terms of service. “Controversial” issues can include anything from war to politics, and profanity can also be difficult to judge, allowing YouTube to essentially use almost completely subjective judgment to demonetize videos.
Philip DeFranco discussed this in his videos "YouTube Is Shutting Down My Channel" and "I'm Not Sure What To Do," in which he talks about how many of his own videos have been demonetized.
He has made it clear that he will not censor himself through his Twitter, along with discussing the strange manner of how YouTube has been choosing videos to demonetize.
Large reaction channels, such as h3h3productions and LeafyIsHere, have also talked about how ridiculous they feel this proposal is, especially due to the vagueness of the terms of service.
The recent change has brought about huge debates about the ethics of private companies, along with what many refer to as censorship on the internet. YouTube’s reasoning for this proposal is that advertisers do not want to be associated with profane or disturbing content, along with content that may offend viewers.
However, it may be reasonable to say that particular advertisers could choose what kind of content they would like their advertisements to play during. Perhaps instead of encouraging censorship, YouTube could play horror advertisements over horror videos and others of the like.
Although there has been no definitive recall of these new terms as of yet, only time will tell what the massive media corporation will decide to do with this unearthed power.
Marco Omta is a freshman studying music production. How do you feel about YouTube's new terms of service rules? Email Marco at mo183714@ohio.edu.
