YouTube Details How It Will Punish 'Harmful' Content Creators

By Edward Leano, Christian Post Contributor Monday, February 12, 2018

YouTube has laid down the details on how it plans to mete out punishment to content creators who "cause widespread harm to the YouTube community." Penalties range from being dropped from video recommendations, to losing access to the creator program entirely.

"YouTube creators are part of a large and influential community. We want to ensure that YouTube policies are clear and all creators are empowered to use their influence responsibly in the YouTube community," the video platform announced in their new set of guidelines.

The site may have been pressed into putting up new policies after the controversy surrounding YouTube creator Logan Paul, who just had his channel suspended from monetization after he posted a set of videos showing the abuse of animals, according to The Verge.

With the new rules, YouTube has reserved the right to remove all advertising and monetization features from a video or a channel. That includes access to regular as well as premium monetization programs, including Google Preferred and the YouTube Partner Program.

The platform could also render a channel essentially invisible to the greater YouTube community of users, by taking its videos out of YouTube's recommendation features. That could range from getting removed from the Trending tab, the YouTube homepage, or even the Watch Next suggestions.

"Repercussions may differ depending on the case. Our team of policy experts will review and advise on each case and notify any creator whose behavior results in a loss of privileges," the YouTube team explained.

In Logan's recent case, the team has temporarily suspended ads on his channel due to his "recent pattern of behavior," as YouTube explained on Friday, Feb. 9, via Twitter. Logan's YouTube channel had first been the subject of controversy following his post on Japan's "suicide forest."