YouTube Can Demonetize or Delete a Channel EVEN If It Follows Community Guidelines
Or, lessons in the importance of owning your own platform.
While - according to YouTube - it doesn’t happen often, Google reserves the right to demonetize or even delete a channel even if the videos therein don’t violate YouTube’s community guidelines.
This is due to what Google calls the “Creator Responsibility Initiative.” In certain circumstances, a YouTuber content creator’s account may be demonetized or even suspended if he or she is flagged as someone who has acted or spoken in a way that Google considers “reckless, dangerous [or] inappropriate” - even if not on video.
That would apply to content posted on other platforms or even behavior offline.
Why would Google do this?
According to Matt Koval, Creator Liason at YouTube:
"As a YouTube Creator, you’re sometimes seen as a representative of the platform and a member of this giant, influential community. The more popular you get, the more you’re properly called a YouTuber and the more you help represent the whole global community of creators not to mention you’re probably admired by many smaller creators who would love to achieve your level of success. So, not to sound all Dad-like here but you might say that with great popularity comes great responsibility.
It becomes your responsibility, along with every YouTube creator, to help us keep the ecosystem healthy. Now, if the things you do and say as such a representative are really reckless, dangerous, inappropriate, on video or not you can actually cause damage to YouTube and its millions of creators by hurting their reputation and revenue.” Source
According to Matt, the goal here is to protect the reputation of YouTube and its users by removing - or at least demonetizing - those who they deem “reckless, dangerous or inappropriate.”
On the surface, it does make sense. Advertisers keep the lights on at YouTube and provide revenue for content creators. It makes sense for the platform to want to keep them happy. And it’s in the best interest of the community as a whole to ensure that its members represent it well.
I completely understand and respect YouTube’s need to protect its community and reputation. And yes, absolutely, everyone who creates content - on YouTube or elsewhere - should conduct himself in a way that is above reproach.
But I have concerns.
Even if the motivation behind the Creator Responsibility Initiative is good, there’s an important, glaring issue: who or what defines what’s “reckless, dangerous or inappropriate?”
My fear is that such broad, sweeping terminology could be used for partisan, political purposes. Or it could be used to target those who hold certain religious views.
Certainly there are things which we would all (hopefully) agree are reckless, dangerous or inappropriate. And those who promote such things rightly shouldn’t be on the platform as long as they do so.
But the problem is one of definitions - or rather the lack thereof. YouTube does define certain types of negative content and behavior in their Community Guidelines, but what is considered “reckless” or “dangerous” or “inappropriate?”
To some, certain opinions in and of themselves are considered “dangerous” or “reckless.” Some may consider support for this or that political candidate “reckless, dangerous, or inappropriate.”
Nebulous terms can be applied broadly and - dare I say - inappropriately.
Will we see people banned from YouTube for a comment on Facebook? Or a post on X/Twitter? Could someone who posts high-quality, valuable, informative content on YouTube have his or her account suspended or demonetized because he or she dared to support a candidate or political party someone doesn’t like? Or will creators who hold to certain religious convictions be removed from the platform for expressing those views - even if not on YouTube itself?
It’s a slippery slope indeed.
We don’t own YouTube.
At the end of the day, this is just another reminder that creators ought to be building their own platforms. Yes, of course, leveraging the big name platforms too. But we shouldn’t put all of our eggs in one basket, as the saying goes.
Google has a right to do with YouTube, its property, whatever it chooses. The owner of the house gets to decide who lives in it. That’s only fair.
And Google does have an obligation to its users, advertisers and shareholders to keep the platform in good standing. Sometimes, sadly, good content creators can get caught up in efforts to keep the community clean - even if they’ve done nothing wrong on or off the platform.
It happens.
Bottom line, any time we’re using a platform we don’t own, we’re using rented space. Substack, Medium, YouTube, Facebook, X… any or all of the above could shut someone down at any time with or without notice for any reason.
Certainly we should never do anything intentionally to violate the rules of a given platform. After all, the rules exist for a reason. But sometimes even playing by the rules doesn’t guarantee that an account won’t be deleted for a long list of reasons.
That’s why I highly recommend creators of all sizes develop their own platforms. In fact, as I wrote on my Side Hustle Road blog a while back, not having your own platform as a content creator is very risky - even if you’re the kind of person who, like me, would never intentionally break the rules.
Plan and act accordingly.
As I’ve said here and I’ve said before, it’s our responsibility as content creators to conduct ourselves in a way that’s becoming of our profession. If we want the respect of our peers and the platforms on which we find them, we should make sure our conduct is kind, courteous, and professional - online and offline.
If you create content on or for YouTube, then make sure you’re reading and re-reading YouTube’s terms of service and doing your best to stay within the community guidelines. The same goes for any other platform - Twitter/X, Facebook, Rumble, etc. Read the rules. Follow the rules. Don’t be a jerk.
But also be thinking about building a platform you own - one that you control. That can take a variety of forms, of course. But whatever it is, don’t put all your eggs in one basket. Build an audience and a brand that can travel with you from site to site and doesn’t depend on any one in particular.
Support other creators and build solid connections and friendships. If we all did that, I think the content creator community would be that much better.