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Videos that show montages of gratuitous violence” face an advertising block on YouTube.
Creators of content focusing on titles such as Call of Duty recently claimed to have suffered huge revenue dips, and a lack of transparency from Google – which is in the midst of an advertiser crisis – was a particular frustration.
Now Polygon reports that YouTube has said that it understands that video games content has a tendency for violence, and that mostly this is OK, but content that focuses specifically on violence may well fall foul.
There is understandable concern from creators about what they can and can’t do,” the company said. The biggest complaint from creators is that these five guidelines don’t give [them] enough context for producing videos.
Violence in the normal course of video gameplay is generally acceptable for advertising, but montages where gratuitous violence is the focal point is not.”
Violence is of course only one of many themes that face restrictions under the video service’s new guidelines.
Other things that would be flagged include content that promotes discrimination or disparages or humiliates an individual or group of people on the basis of the individual’s or group’s race, ethnicity, or ethnic origin, nationality, religion, disability, age, veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity, or other characteristic associated with systematic discrimination or marginalization”.
Also on the list is inappropriate use of family entertainment characters” and content that is gratuitously incendiary, inflammatory, or demeaning”.
YouTube recently came under fire when its new content guidelines saw content featuring references to LGBT issues flagged up for advertising blocks. It also implemented restrictions for new content makers, who can now not monetise their videos until they hit 10,000 lifetime views on their channels.
