YouTube - What They Don't Tell You
X is for X-Rated?
My AtoZ theme this year is my YouTube journey with my new fiction channel, and all that I have learned - plus some free fiction - scroll down to the embedded vid for that.
YouTube used to be a platform where anything went except blatant pornography,
then it became uber popular and it started cracking down because of its ad
revenue. Then there was the whole debacle about children watching it, even
though no one under 13 should be able to create an account, and it got
worse.
YouTube does not allow pornographic content in video, text,
audio or images. All of their examples say "for the purpose of sexual
gratification" which is a very wishy-washy term, but if you don't want your
vids age restricted or worse, your channel deleted, avoid such things. Given
that YouTube is notorious for banning or restricting things because someone
else reported it, rather than actually investigating properly with actual
human beings, just avoid adult content.
Photo by Eliott Van Buggenhout on Unsplash |
There are certain words that will get your vids age restricted and/or demonetised too, like swearing and sexualised words even when not used in a sexual context. Given that YouTube is not supposed to be for children under 13 in the first place this is very, very annoying, but we don't get to argue with it. We just have to watch what we say.
Does it annoy you too, that a site supposed to be for adult and teens is so restrictive because of prudish advertisers?
Current YouTube Episode
About the AtoZ Challenge
Check Out My Fiction YouTube Channel
- 🎤Micro stories as YouTube Shorts Monday - Thursday - for fun quick viewing
- 🕮A longer story every Friday - for story time, over coffee or before going to bed
It can be frustrating. I think YouTube does that to protect themselves. Some parents don't watch what their children are doing online and it's probably those parents that would cause a problem if their child clicked on a youtube video they shouldn't be watching.
ReplyDeleteI just mark all my stuff as not meant for kids -- because who knows when someone will take offence about faeries frolicking... or me trying to breathe between paragraphs when recording while ill.
ReplyDeleteRonel visiting for the A-Z Challenge My Languishing TBR: X
I'm perhaps not a great person to answer here. I don't have children. I was assaulted and exploited as one. And I worked around ill children who were doing homeschool, and they frequently were on YouTube. Trying to keep sexual predators away from people under age 18 is a difficult task, especially in the online environment.
ReplyDeleteShould parenting "take a village"? Are all adults responsible to keep children away from adult content? Or are we to expect all parents to have the time, skill, care and values to protect all children? Is there a better way to prevent child exploitation and molestation? These are good and vital questions.
Perhaps, instead of a ban and deleting, YouTube could buy RedTube and just move adult stuff there? (That site once had music videos from death metal bands. It became more focused on free porn later. I haven't been there since then. But there was a cool band from Sweden I once followed before that site went into a darker direction.)
I don't know.
J Lenni Dorner (he/him 👨🏽 or 🧑🏽 they/them) ~ Co-host of the #AtoZchallenge, OperationAwesome6 Debut Author Interviewer, Reference& Speculative Fiction Author
I can understand why you're frustrated about the content rules, particularly as they already have "Youtube Kids" designed specifically for children. I get why Youtube feel it necessary to cover their backs when there is so much inappropriate content that kids can stumble on without having to be logged in. But, ultimately I think it's down to the parents to supervise their kids and set up controls on the account. My daughter's account is linked to mine so I can block anything I don't want her to see.
ReplyDeletePersonally I don't mind certain restrictions and limitations. We are inundated with garbage from all directions. I mostly go to YouTube for music so I don't notice much in the way of restricted viewing.
ReplyDeleteArlee Bird
Tossing It Out