Why is the YouTube Demonetizing Such a Big Deal?

A lot - and I mean, a lot - of folks, especially in the YouTube community have been venting their anger and frustration about the YouTube demonitizing that has been going on for some time now, and shows no signs of stopping - actually, it appears to be expanding. You can hardly visit a channel or blog these days that doesn't have some kind of reference to this issue right now. And I want to address it myself.

As some of you may be aware, I post videos online myself. Haven't been doing it long, but I started doing so and use several platforms including YouTube, Vimeo, Vid.me, Minds, Gab, Daily Motion, and BitChute. The YouTube channel grew a lot faster than I was figuring on when one day I posted a reaction video that ended up with a current total views in the area 180k. Suddenly, I was able to enable all the features YouTube has to offer, including a custom URL and monetizing. Now, for those who don't use YouTube and don't know how it works, you have to have a total of 10,000 channel views before you can monetize your videos. Once you hit that threshold, you can apply to have your channel reviewed for monetizing. I did this, with little hope of my channel actually being approved. So it was a shock to me a week later when I realized my videos had suddenly been monetized. 

What does it actually mean to have your videos monetized? For the casual viewer, you assume it means ads can be run on your videos, earning the creator money. And you would be right. But there's another side of it. Because your videos can now run ads, and YouTube depends on ads to survive, your videos are now being promoted by YouTube a lot more than they were when they weren't bringing YouTube any money. That means your videos have a greater chance of showing up in the sidebar on other videos, or at the end of other videos on channels you don't run. So if someone is, say, watching a video from Good Mythical Morning, when the video is over there may be recommendations based on the topic of that video. So if the guys in Good Mythical Morning just did an episode about eating spicy food, when the video is over you may get a bunch of video suggestions from other channels you've never heard of before that are also discussing spicy food. 

A ridiculous amount of my views came from those suggestions either at the end of videos or on the sidebar during the videos. And because I hit a topic that was being widely discussed, a lot of people clicked over to see what I had to say about it, too. Boom, 180k views in five days. 

Now, a few days ago I decided to go into my channel page and take a look at the progress of that video and newer ones. I was disappointed to see... the green monetizing icon was gone and was replaced with a yellow one. On about 90% of my videos, including my 9/11 video that was discussing unity, nothing graphic. Speaking with other YouTubers, their 9/11 videos got demonetized, too. This made me think back to the first video that had been demonetized almost immediately after being monetized, and that was my video about Google's AI. If you didn't see that, the example I was playing with came from the article I was discussing, which used Google's AI software page to test the "toxicity" of what I was saying. The phrase "ISIS is a terrorist organization" was listed as being completely toxic. Now, Google - who owns YouTube - didn't like that I was pointing out how ridiculous this software was and how it was changing the Internet for the worse, so it was immediately demonetized and was not promoted at all. Because they are apparently ashamed of their actions, I guess. If they think it's good, you'd think they'd stand behind it. Apparently not. 

Anyway, I assume the 9/11 videos were demonetized for being "toxic," since it was a terrorist act. 

​But why is all of this such a big deal? Well, for some folks it might be the money. But not to all of us. I am a small YouTuber. I'm not making life changing money from my videos. I'm not even making enough to pay a single bill. Right now, I might be able to take my mom out for dinner... if she's alright with eating at Wendy's. Actually, I am nowhere near the threshold for them to actually pay out anything, so it is only an estimated income. Basically, I'm not making squat. And most YouTubers aren't, contrary to popular opinion. Some are, don't take that wrong. Some YouTubers are making big money on the platform. And this hurts them a lot because it means their quality drops when they have to let people go because they can't pay them anymore. The effort remains, but the editing may not.

What people like myself and a lot of others are concerned with is that promoting. The videos that were demonetized  are not being promoted. Which means what I have to say isn't being heard. You are more likely to find gaming channels and people pulling horrific pranks on people then you are to find discussion of current events if you aren't specifically seeking them out. And even then, you have little chance of discovering new minds. You also are less likely to be exposed to differing view points. (And if you do find a channel and you watch a video or two, you'll notice a large portion of your front page suggestions are from that one channel)

A lot of people are screaming that conservative channels are being targeted. I don't know for sure that that is true. I can tell you from my own list... my more controversial videos are being hit. 

​Let's take a look at my video dashboard, shall we?

---

The blacked out videos are either private or unlisted, so they aren't relevant. 

Now, as you can see... videos that weren't controversial, didn't contain "wrong think," or would require someone to actually watch the video were not tapped. I did try something in one video... "The Eclipse, Too?" was given a new title and thumbnail and was submitted for review. I did that about a week ago. The Google AI video has been under review for weeks, so I don't think anything is coming of it. The eclipse video was originally called "Now the Eclipse is Racist, Too" and the thumbnail said the same thing. Since I changed the title and thumbnail, the views have dropped drastically. But it's now "advertiser friendly" in appearance. It discusses people deciding the eclipse was racist, so it probably still won't pass muster. You can also see the video that got 180k+ views. That was demonetized and the views immediately stopped. Some folks have still been finding it, but considering it reached 180k views in the first week, you can see how much it has dropped off. 

The only exception to this rule is that last video there... the flag peeing video. The title mentions peeing and the graphic shows it, yet the video is still monetized. However, discussing racism... not advertiser friendly. Calling out the wrongs of both Antifa and the white nationalists? Not OK. I can, however, give a positive reaction to a gay cartoon and keep it monetized. The top video is still monetized, too, but that requires someone to watch it to take offense. The 9/11 video where I discussed wanting the unity back that we had in the weeks following the attacks? Not OK, either! I mentioned terrorism... but you'd have to watch it to know that, which the YouTube algorithm doesn't do. The title doesn't allude to a 9/11 video, either. And the thumbnail... that could have been a sad romance short. How do they know? Tags, that's how. 

YouTube uses an algorithm that analyzes tags, thumbnails, titles, descriptions, etc. YouTube has graciously allowed us to submit videos for rereview so an actual human has to review it instead of allowing a bot to decide and have the final word. That was a recent change. But that algorithm is based on words, much like Google's AI. Words trigger it. 

It gives the appearance of conservatives being targeted, but that isn't really the entire case. These words that trigger demonetizing may be used by conservatives more often. But left wing videos have been targeted, too, as well as more centered views and videos that had nothing to do with politics. However, the left wingers are talking about topics deemed nontoxic, so they get hit less often. So you can discuss how great it is to be a five year old transgender, but you can't discuss how racist BLM's list of demands for white people are. Google isn't exactly a constitution loving group. And diversity of ideas isn't something they are known for. 

But the problem with all of this is that differing view points are being hidden away from both sides. If you are interested in a certain topic, you'll find videos on it on your own, but you won't get suggestions from someone who disagrees with you. Your mind is not going to be expanded. You will keep finding what you want to hear and nothing else. That isn't good for free thought, and it doesn't help people learn to think for themselves. Videos coming out of war torn countries and countries who are being restricted by their governments are being removed, locking away a look inside and not helping those who are trying to make a difference by getting the truth out to the world in a desperate reach for help. Some of those videos - evidence of real atrocities - are gone forever. 

Small YouTubers with a different opinion are being shut down, too. You'll always find the videos from big named people who have been around a while, but you may never find my videos. I'm fairly centrist, in all honesty. Wouldn't it be nice to have more centrist opinions in between the extremes? And it is frustrating. A lot of brilliant people with something to say are going to stop because no one is listening. You are having your voice taken away, but you are also having your ability to expand and learn taken away.

The money isn't important. Making sure people have access to views other than extreme left is. If your pro-Antifa video is OK but your anti-Antifa video isn't, and only the pro-Antifa video is reaching the masses, then people are misinformed and underinformed. That shouldn't be. The internet shouldn't be available to only one point of view and prank videos. This isn't a free flow of information. It's just another propaganda machine. 

On another note, the creators - the people making videos for people to watch that YouTube runs their ads on - aren't allowed to choose advertisers. So YouTube can bow and scrape to whatever they claim their advertisers want, but the people making that advertising reach people don't get to say, hey, I don't want the ad of the unicorn pooping into an ice cream cone on my videos. Or, hey, I don't want political advertisements before my videos. Or, hey, I really find that 2 minute ad full of poop puns really stomach turning and don't want it on my videos. Believe it or not, viewers take it out on the creators when they don't like the ads, even if they understand the creator has no say. If not for the creators, there is no place to put those ads. And if not for the viewers, no one gets advertised to.