YouTube is over.
Or at least that's what the majority of Twitter seems to be talking about right now. If you have been online in the past twenty four hours, you are probably aware of the new changes to the YouTube monetisation system. If you are not, here's a quick summary: YouTube is now censoring content. A lot of videos are having their advertising rights taken away due to the content within the video, the video title, or even the video description.
Some people have taken this news lightly.
Some have focused on the censorship this involves.
And others have gone straight to thinking about the money.
"But, YouTube isn't even a real job" I hear you say? Just because YouTube is a highly subjective source of income, does not mean that people do not put hard work and effort into their channels. However, I would just like to clarify that this post isn't going to focus on the money aspect of this but rather on the censorship that has been imposed.
YouTube started by targeting controversial topics. But, then we realised they have also targeted mental health videos.
YouTube has always been (or at least used to be) a place of free speech and where likeminded individuals could gather either by watching a screen or by interacting in the comments section. But, YouTube has now apparently lost all that it stands for and is now quite clearly only in it for the money. And, as a result, is trying to do the same to its users.
But, YouTube really shot themselves in the foot with this. When we watch a YouTube video 9 times out of 10, we see the advert on the screen before we see the video. By the time even the first millisecond of the actual video has started, in our minds as consumers we have already decided if we want to put our money towards the product or service that has been advertised. The fact the following video is a depression story, discussing Trichotillomania or whatever mental health issue YouTube wants to censor next, does not change whether or not I am not going to put money towards that service. If the advertisement was good enough, I'd have already clicked through to the service and bought the product/service before even watching the video I originally intended to watch. The fact the following video might use the word 'fuck' a lot, isn't fucking relevant.
People aren't going to stop watching YouTube videos without the word 'depression' in. So, why have YouTube decided to not put ads on these videos? Because they hope that creators will manipulate their content to be more sellable? Some creators will have to do this if they are relying on YouTube as their only source of income. This deeply saddens me and I believe this will drive some viewers away from watching YouTube all together.
As well as mental health being a target, videos discussing real life events have been triggered by the system due to being 'controversial'. Not all of these videos are controversial but are instead educational. Why doesn't YouTube want content being created that educates us about the world we live in? What is YouTube trying to hide from us?
Another issue that has arisen from this is where is the line drawn? We can talk about anxiety in videos, but not about depression. We can't talk about sex in videos but Rihanna is still allowed adverts on videos when she literally has her tits out.
This is censorship.
This is discrimination.
This is not okay.
But, as viewers/creators there is nothing we can do.
Living in a world full of consumerism has its consequences and the fact that we are being discouraged away from talking about mental health is now apparently one of them.
I just encourage whoever is reading this to go and watch some of the videos that have been censored by YouTube as opposed to the ones plastered in advertising.
YouTube have screwed themselves over as well as their audience.
And I would just like to remind everyone of the people behind this decision and everyone saying we were overreacting.. Funny thing: Blogger censored this video from being put into posts so you need to click here to see it.
Disclaimer: I do make my own YouTube videos at www.youtube.com/schmirfle . None of my videos have been subject to this censorship.
It was just a rumor I feel. Youtube was a kind of threatening viewers or people who post videos , may be just to warn them about any illicit content they post. Anyway, it is back to normal now.
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