YouTube Relaxes Profanity Policy After Creator Backlash
Last November, YouTube’s new profanity policy made creators worried about their ability to make money as it demonetized videos containing colorful language in the first eight seconds. However, YouTube is now relaxing its stringent rules in response to the outrage from creators.
Conor Kavanagh, YouTube’s monetization policy lead, admitted that the new profanity rules “resulted in a stricter approach than we intended.” As a response, YouTube is now allowing creators to use moderate and strong swear words without risking their monetization status. Creators can still make ad revenue depending on the level of profanity; stronger forms of cussing will limit ad eligibility for the first seven seconds. If the swearing happens later, there will be no restriction, except for repeated use of vulgar language.
YouTube differentiates between moderate and strong profanity. Using less severe swear words at any point in the video will not limit monetization status. Ads will only be turned off if YouTube is uncomfortable with the repeated use of mixed-use terms.
The new policy grants creators more freedom to use colorful language in background and intro/outro music without demonetization, as long as it does not appear in thumbnails and titles. By March 10, YouTube will review videos demonetized or limited in ad revenue due to the previous policy.
