- All right, folks.
We are back.
It's Thursday and you have another edition
in a series that we've been doing
around the Advertiser Friendly Content Guidelines.
Now, if you're new to this, what happens is,
I tell you which guideline we're going through,
I run through the language,
but I also try to provide some human insights
about what we're seeing around creator confusion.
What we did in our last news flash,
is asked via the comments for you to give us some questions
to help us identify where we can resolve confusion.
Trustworthy community that you are,
you've engaged and we really appreciate it.
So, if you click on the Guide to Self-Certification,
you're gonna find a drop down.
Within that, you're gonna see the first category saying,
you can turn on ads for this content.
What does that mean?
It means the green icon.
We refer here to two key things, hunting related content
and guns discharged in a safe environment.
And if I am you, I'm thinking number one,
what is a safe environment by YouTube standards?
And also, where does airsoft content actually figure in.
Let's deal with a safe environment first,
we're gonna consider a shooting range
a safe environment.
We're gonna consider a densely wooded area
a safe environment, and the types of areas
where we would not consider the environment to
be safe is a heavily populated one.
And we know that the vast
vast majority of firearms creators would never dream
of discharging a weapon in a heavily populated area.
So this is just guidance for anybody who may be confused.
In addition to what falls
within the category of the green icon.
You're gonna see what falls
into the category of the yellow icon.
And that's the next two rows
within that dropdown box.
That refers to use of guns
outside of controlled environment.
Another way to understand that is use of guns outside
of that safe environment that I've referred to.
Now the display
of homemade 3D printed, or previously modified guns.
We think that's relatively clear
if it's not make sure drop us a couple
of comments below and we'll try and get back to you.
But the key here is use of airsoft or ball
bullet guns against others without protective gear.
The first thing to understand is airsoft content is
free to monetize with a green icon in almost every instance.
What you have to watch out for though is use
of airsoft guns or BB guns where somebody
in the video is not wearing protective gear
and they're hit by one of these things
or somebody's trying to hit them.
Now let's move in to where
you're going to see no ads at all.
And this one's really, really important to understand.
Content that shows gun creation or modification
including assembly or disassembly promotes gun makers
or sellers, or facilitates the sale of gun, as well
as minors using guns without adult supervision.
Now, minors using guns without adult supervision,
we think is pretty clear
but let's dig into the rest of it.
Particularly the promotion of sale.
When I see this
if I'm you I'm thinking, okay, I can see a clear list here
of the kinds of things where promotion of sale will earn me
that yellow icon and the no ads rating.
But, let's take a step back.
None of these things are actually prohibited
from getting the green icon in
and of themselves.
I'm looking at gun grips.
I'm looking at ammunition, I'm looking at silencers.
All of those things featured in content,
aren't reason to apply a yellow icon.
It's when there's promotion of sale
or the channel through which you bought it yourself.
So I'll give you an example,
fitting a silencer onto a firearm and
saying this "silencers great, and I bought it in shop X
and I got a really good deal on it."
That is totally fine for the green icon.
It's when creators start to say, "I got this silencer
you can find it via the link below.
And if you use this coupon code
you're going to get 25% off."
The promotion of sale of these items is going to earn you
that no ads status and the yellow icon.
What's also important to consider is anything
that is promotional content when it comes
to gun stores as well.
So that in effect is another way
of trying to promote the sale of a firearm.
The rest of it, we hope is pretty intuitive
which is around gun creation or modification.
And what we're talking about here is stuff like bump stocks
which we know the vast, vast majority
of firearms creators wouldn't dream of engaging in
and that is effectively it when it comes
to firearms content.
But wait, we have questions.
So what we want to do is take the questions
from the community. And though we're about five
or six from our most recent news flash
which we're going to dive into now.
So the first question came from Airsoft Review Argentina.
"Are airsoft channels treated the same as firearms channel?
This is key information!"
And it is, that's what we're trying to provide.
So are airsoft channels considered firearms channels.
The first thing to highlight is the advertiser
friendly content guidelines are applied at the video level,
and not the channel level.
So your channel could be about collectable dolls
but we wouldn't be judging you on the basis
of the channel title or the general theme of the channel,
it's always about the videos themselves.
To answer your question,
airsoft videos aren't considered firearms content.
The one thing you have to watch out for
is safe usage of airsoft guns.
So if you're, for example, pulling a prank
on somebody and shooting them with an airsoft gun
there's no protective gear at all.
That's something that's going to get you, that yellow icon.
So the next question we have is from Curió Curioso.
"Can we use a video of firearms tests
with the national army testing in targets within a forest?"
So really good question.
And that's a perfect example
of a safe, controlled environment.
So my answer to that, without being able to
see the specific video is,
it would be safe for the green icon.
So our next question comes from Marquis M who asks
"What if you're making animated action scenes, can firearms
and whatnot be possible?
There's a lot of information over anime style animations
which include action-based entertainment
like those you'd see in Marvel
and other high profile movies."
The answer to your question Marquis, is when it comes
to firearms within animated content
we don't even define that as firearms related content.
What you would have to be conscious of is,
our violence guidelines, our shocking content guidelines
and occasionally our inappropriate language
guidelines, to make sure you're not falling foul
of any of the yellow icon guidelines there,
but for a direct answer, animated content featuring
a gun is not what we considered firearm related content.
Next up is a question from Chris Sparrows.
"I'm interested in how firearms guidelines work
within the context of a fictional video.
For example, narrative work such
as an action film or the like"
and again similar to that question from Marquis,
if it's fictional what you just have to make sure is,
if there's a bloody scene or something like that,
you're not falling foul of our violence
or shocking content guidelines.
The next question is from Harshman Hills.
"Thanks for doing this.
My questions are, when the video complies
with the self-check guidelines
why are some of them still demonetized?
Why is building a firearm, which is legal,
not advertiser friendly?
Why does the AI automatically block certain words
and limit the ads such as the brand name or silencer?"
There's a lot to clear up here.
Our advertiser friendly content guidelines are informed
by advertisers tolerance to appear on certain content.
So the legality of something doesn't mean
that it's always going to get the green icon.
There's a lot of stuff that's legal
that advertisers do not want to appear
on and that is what governs and directs
the advertiser friendly content guidelines.
Why is building a firearm, not advertiser friendly?
We've provided guidance and advertisers
aren't comfortable appearing
on something which features gun creation and how-to guide.
The second question that I want clear up here
is why does the AI automatically block certain words
and limit the ads?
There is no list when it comes to the name of the product.
So for example, silencer and the brand name
these are things that don't factor in
to whether something gets the green icon or the yellow icon.
Now our classifiers, our algorithms take
into account a ton of different signals.
So don't think just because you're using one word
and you've seen demonetization once, twice, three times
that, that is necessarily the reason.
And finally, we have a question around laser guns
a nerf guns and that I'm happy to report is the type
of content that will get the green icon.
That we don't consider firearms related content.
Anything you can find in a typical toy store
will probably get the green icon 99% of the time.
Now we did get some really good comments from Slav Guns.
Slav Guns says, some of the topics
and terms in the guidelines examples are just plain wrong
or were written by somebody who obviously never held a gun.
Please let me know if you want to discuss these guidelines
and get some help or answers.
And that's something we're always eager to do.
And the best way
in which you can do that is drop more context
in the comments below.
If there's a specific term
or topic that you feel we could refer to
in a way that's more recognizable and more easily understood
by firearms creators like yourself, Slav Guns
make sure to drop it in the comments below we'll review it
and potentially update it on the page itself.
And that my friends is it for this week's edition
of the Advertiser Friendly Content Guidelines.
As ever we welcome as much feedback as possible.
Have a great week.