- Oh, right okay. - You good?
- Yeah. - Okay
Hello, everybody. Connor and I are back
with yet another monetization ads friendly guidelines video
So if you want to learn how to stay away from the yellow icon
meaning limited or no ads on your videos,
watch this video.
This video is going to be a follow up to the video that I filmed with John
forever ago, where we talked about ads friendly guidelines
for the first time on this channel.
What we are coming back to you today with, is we have updated our Help Center
based on all your feedback from the previous video that we filmed,
and we now have more information that's available to you.
Want to make it clear though: there are no changes to policies whatsoever.
We're simply giving you more information
so you can make more informed decisions when you're making content
about whether you're expecting to get ad revenue or not.
But that's it.
We're gonna deep dive for the first time
into each one of the advertiser friendly content guidelines,
which is exactly what this new version of the article will be doing.
- I was recording, can we just do that? - Yeah.
We can make this a fun one.
Alright, what is the first category that we're gonna dive into?
So, the first category is controversial issues and sensitive events.
So, for sensitive events, the types of things are war, and death, and tragedy.
In that case, think about any shootings or bombings that may be happening
and related content.
Those are the types of things that'll receive the yellow icon.
When it comes to controversial issues, those center around political conflicts,
terrorism and extremism, and stories of sexual abuse.
Next up.
Next up, we have recreational drugs and drug related content
So, the first thing you might be asking yourselves is
what is a recreational drug, from our perspective.
And a recreational drug is anything that can
alter the mental state and induce a high.
And the types of things that we're focused on ensuring get the yellow icon
to protect advertisers
are promotion of substances that alter that mental state,
products or services marketed as facilitating recreational drug use,
and, finally, instructional content by producing, purchasing
or using those recreational drugs.
And we've a ton more examples in terms of the types of drugs we're talking about
as well as the types of instructional materials,
or paraphernalia that would fall into those categories.
And, somewhat related to recreational drugs, we have tobacco related content.
What we're talking about when it comes to tobacco related content, is promotion:
so, if you have content that is promoting tobacco,
so if that's cigarettes, cigars, chewing tobacco;
if it's promoting tobacco related products so tobacco pipes or rolling papers;
or if it's promoting products designed to simulate tobacco smoking,
herbal cigarettes, e-cigarettes, et cetera.
So, e-cigarettes and vaping? Yeah, okay.
Yep, vaping is included there as well.
That's all stuff that's gonna get the yellow icon.
Next up, we have weapons related content, and that focuses an awful lot on firearms.
And, as we've said before, the platforms' focus is on
keeping people safe online and offline, as it relates to this category.
But, what it means for the advertiser friendly guidelines,
and what can get the green icon or the yellow icon,
is around the sale of firearms.
So, if your content facilitates the sale of a firearm,
or it facilitates the sale of a component of the firearm,
or provides Instruction on how to assemble a firearm,
those are things that cannot get the green icon; they will receive the yellow icon
And just a quick clarification to all you game creators out there, just to clarify,
the weapons related content ads friendly guidelines
do not apply to video game content.
So, another category that we've talked about before on this channel:
harmful and dangerous acts.
So, an awful lot of this focuses around pranks, challenges dares and stunts,
and we have listed a ton of different examples.
For example, in Pranks, as you probably expected,
pranks relating to suicide, death, or terrorism,
like throwing a fake bomb at someone,
Those are the types of pranks that cannot get the green icon.
Other categories within harmful and dangerous acts
are body modification and medical procedures.
Now, we're breaking it out with examples, like invasive medical procedures.
So, if your content involves somebody getting an injection, for whatever reason,
that's something that can still get the green icon.
If it's showcasing a full-blown surgery,
that's something that's going to get the yellow icon
because of the fact that it's more invasive.
In addition to that, things like pimple popping and ingrown toenail removals,
they're things that cannot get the green icon.
Yes, my sister loves those pimple popping videos.
And that's why I'll never meet her sister.
In addition to that, we have harm to self, harm to others, or harmed by others.
So, again, that's focusing around suicide, eating disorders,
stories of harassment or domestic violence,
or stories relating to, for example, the outlier stuff like cannibalism.
Those types of things that focus on harm,
are things that can only get the yellow icon.
Yeah.
In addition, we have dangerous acts not to be imitated.
That's content showing the consumption of substances
in such quantities that can result in a toxic reaction.
An awful lot of the time we've come across content
where somebody is ingesting something
that just should not be eaten in any way, shape or form,
and can be really dangerous for your health, if not threaten your life.
Would binge drinking also fall under this category?
Binge drinking would fall under this category.
Then, another interesting trend we saw, was around subway or underground surfing,
where people are breaking into metro stations
and jumping from the top of one train carriage to another,
or trying to stow away in-between two carriages; we saw various examples of it.
It sounds like some superhero movie stuff.
It's Jason Bourne on the subway.
Okay, but it is not necessarily safe for these individuals who are doing it,
so advertisers wouldn't feel comfortable having their ad show alongside it.
Exactly. In addition to that, there's roof-topping, which is a similar trend.
And then we have what we call 'other challenge-based content.'
So, YouTube's great, because it's the home of really viral moments,
and some of those are based around challenges.
There's a portion that cannot get the green icon, they'll only ever get yellow.
And those are things like the Kiki challenge, the fire challenge,
or the bird box challenge.
Yes.
And the bird box challenge is interesting, because of the fact that
it was a great piece of content from Netflix,
however, when it came to the stuff we were seeing being uploaded onto YouTube,
it showed people being blindfolded and walking around,
and trying to cook in the kitchen, or trying to cross a road blindfolded.
So, when challenge-based content moves into that territory
where somebody can be put into a dangerous situation, or can be harmed,
those are pieces of content that cannot get the green icon.
Two more buckets under here.
Indeed. Medical misinformation. So, there are three different buckets here:
Any anti-vaccination or AIDS denialist content.
Another is non-medical treatments that promise to cure an untreatable disease.
So, If you're uploading content saying this turmeric drink will cure your cancer,
that is not something that can receive the green icon.
Content that implies that serious medical conditions do not exist,
or are an elaborate hoax.
So, if there is a body of scientific work that has said
there is a disease that really does exist, and your content says that it doesn't,
that's not something that can get the green icon either.
Finally we have any content that threatens or advocates for physical or mental harm.
So, that's pretty direct threatening someone with real life harm,
or calling for the attack of another person.
That's obviously not something that's going to get monetization privileges.
So, next up, we have hateful content, and that falls into three broad categories.
The first is inciting hatred, and we have a pretty detailed definition
of the types of things that fall into that category.
Second is 'promotes discrimination, or disparages or humiliates.'
Again, we have a ton of explanation there as to what that means.
And then, finally, terrorism:
so, content made by or in support of a terrorist group
is something that's not going to get full monetization privileges.
Yes, and again, to further clarify, we're not making any new policy changes here.
This is, again, just giving you more information
about policies that already exist.
Next up, we have incendiary and demeaning, which are broken out into two categories.
So, the first, 'content devoted to shaming or insulting an individual or group.'
Would this be bullying?
Yes, it would. I think a helpful way to classify this, is
if you have a diss track where you're dissing another YouTuber -
Diss tracks can't earn ads on YouTube?
They can, but there is a line. If the entirety of it is focused on
the other person, what a terrible person they are and they can't do anything,right,
that's not gonna be able to receive the green icon.
What about satire in here?
That's typically where we see the green icon returned to this type of content.
Yeah, context feels hard with this one.
Context is hard, and we don't always get it right,
but we really analyze the diss community,
and try and break down where that line is
between satire and, you know, real life criticism.
To provide a little bit more color to that, we have another section that says
'harasses, intimidates, or bullies an individual or group of individuals.'
So, if you're singling somebody out for abuse or harassment,
you're encouraging your followers to harass someone,
that's obviously not something that's going to be able
to get those full monetization privileges.
And we have language around malicious personal attacks, slander or defamation.
So, that's where it moves beyond the satirical line
into this line where no advertiser would want to appear on it.
Yeah.
So, Barbara, I'm gonna test you on the next one, to see how good you are at this,
how much you've listened to myself and John over the past year.
Oh, geez.
So, inappropriate language, could you break that out into the top three areas?
I feel like I talk about this all the time, not just with you.
So, one: no profanity within the first 30 seconds of your video.
No strong profanity within your title and your thumbnails.
And then, the level of the profanity, the strength of it also matters.
So, in the video, I have a John
Hick.
It's okay; but more on the stronger side, the racial slurs, the types of content
that we would not necessarily say right here, right now, in front of you,
advertisers don't feel comfortable with it.
That is really spot on.
Have you been cheating and looking at my notes?
No, I just get to film lots of these videos.
So, the top things to keep in mind, as Barbara said, are:
If you have profanity in the title or the thumbnail
that's something that's not able to get the green icon.
If you're using profanity in that really hateful or derogatory way
that Barbara referred to.
Then, if there's strong profanity at the beginning of the video,
or strong profanity used multiple times throughout the video,
that's something that's not gonna get the green icon.
Next up, is adult themes in family content.
Now, this is a really simple one, because it just focuses on
depictions of children, or popular children's characters,
doing things that are adult in nature.
So, the things we would define there as adult in nature, are
story-lines based around sex, violence, vulgarity or other distasteful subjects.
With what we would know as traditional types of cartoons and/or characters,
that are more family-oriented, younger audience oriented.
So if you've Batman, Spiderman, Elsa etc, etc, or The Joker,
engaging in story-lines that you would normally see in more mature content,
that's something that will not receive the green icon.
So, next up, we have sexually suggestive content
and this is where we wanted to provide a lot more clarity to the existing policy,
because this is a huge area of YouTube.
People like discussing their personal lives, their romantic encounters,
and that's definitely a huge component of the platform.
But, it's on us to outline the types of things within that community
that can monetize, so that you're clear.
So, we've divided that 'sexually suggestive content' up into three buckets.
The first is sexually suggestive content,
and that focuses on videos of graphic sexual acts intended to arouse.
If you have content where there is a focal point on nudity,
if you have content featuring sex toys or sexual devices,
that's something that'll get the yellow icon.
If there're explicit conversations about sex.
So, if you're recounting your first time,
that's something that can't receive the green icon,
if it delves into, you know, the actual sexual encounter itself.
Like, real details in there.
Content that may be interpreted as promoting a sexual act
in exchange for compensation, pretty clear cut.
And then content related to the sex industry itself.
We can move on to sexually gratifying content.
So, that's content depicting fetishes,
sensationalist material focused on sex scandals,
explicit audio with focus on sexual arousal,
and body art with focus on nudity or intimate body parts.
Okay.
Then, as our kind of catch-all category, we have 'other explicit material.'
So, that's videos of raw footage that include explicit animal mating scenes.
Any differentiation between content that is designed for
educational, scientific, or other types of reasons like that?
So, that's a really good question.
The way we think about it is, if you are discussing sex in an educational context,
that is something that can receive the green icon.
If your description or educational material
goes beyond what you would find in a high school textbook,
around the biological Ins and outs of it,
then that's something that is going to receive the yellow icon.
Okay. And, last but not least, we have violence.
So, content containing gruesome, graphic or disgusting kinds of imagery.
- I think we discussed this before. - Yeah.
Blood, guts, gore, sexual fluids, human or animal waste,
crime scene, or accident-related photos,
where it really focuses on the gore and the outcome of violence,
that is something that's gonna receive the yellow icon.
And then, content depicting acts of violence.
So, where we have accounts or images of shootings,
stuff that promotes violence towards animals,
videos that contain graphic violence in the context of physical altercations,
so, if you've raw footage of
two people beating the living daylights out of each other on the street
again, not green icon content.
And raw footage of war casualties,
and a couple more little bullet points in there as well.
One of the great things about listening to the community
as we have rewritten the current policy, which, again, remains exactly the same,
we're just amplifying it with a couple more examples,
is that we learn from you about the types of content that you feel
we're not doing a good enough job of defining for you as green or yellow icon.
So, please keep on talking to us.
Please keep on leaving feedback within the comments.
Yeah, even things like you know: "What about this?" "What about this?"
Those nitty gritty, detailed questions are actually extremely valuable for Connor
and the rest of Connor's team.
And one thing to call out, just to make sure that
you're putting your resources where they they'll do most good,
the specific feedback we're asking for in relation to this, on an ongoing basis,
is around the ad friendly guidelines.
It is not in relation to things like copyright or YPP applications,
which are a different area of work altogether.
Also, Community Guidelines, Terms of Service, Terms of Use,
also separate from what we are talking about here.
This is just the type of material that advertisers
do, and do not, feel comfortable having their ads show alongside.
That's it for us. That is the end of this. Thank you so much for breaking this down.
We will have a link to this Help Center article with all of these breakdowns,
and more information than Connor and I covered here,
in the description down below, so that you can go take a look at it.
Exactly. And Barbara told me to tell you to dislike and give the thumbs-
I mean, sorry, like this video.
I think you should probably subscribe as well, is that...?
Yes! As a reminder to you, Creator Insider is our informal, behind-the-scenes,
conversational type of channel, where
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We will see you guys in the next video.
Bye bye.