YouTube Help potentially suspended - Is Youtube corrupt?

[Bubblegummonsters]

Hi,

I'm starting to feel it's one rule for bigger Youtubers and another for smaller ones.

Last night I got an email from Youtube saying they will remove my channel from the Partner programme unless I remove content that they feel breaks their guideline rules. The specifically stated: In a recent review, our team found made for kids content on your channel,Bubblegummonsters, that is considered enticing to kids through deception, sensationalism, and/or manipulation, which violates our quality principles for kids and family content.

I don't understand how my kid content videos violated this at all. I create Five Nights at Freddy's based content where I bring the FNAF characters to real life and they interact in a fun way with my son and his cousins. None of the videos are violent, they're sometimes a bit spooky but only in a fun way. So I don't understand why Youtube has decided to remove this content. I spoke to a represetative this morning and they said they can't say what videos in particular broke these rules and I just need to refer to their guideline page, which is of no use at all.

What makes it even harder to swallow is that there are clearly other much bigger channels still doing things similar to this with no consequence at all. Not to call anyone out but there's a large gaming channel that has their kids in the videos regularly playing scary games. They've never set their videos to 'for kids' despite them having children in the videos all the way through. So I'm starting to think that Youtube is allowing bigger channels to do what they want because they're bringing in a lot of money for Youtube.

Has anyone else recieved this email recently? If so what are you going to do. Because of the vagueness and completely useless advice I think I'm just going to have to remove all of my kid content videos. I've recently pivoted the channel to move away from the kid content but those videos are still my main income source and so by doing this I'm going to kill all my revenue. I just don't think I have a choice.

 

[MattCommand1]

As a general statement, people who decide to make content for kids are in for a much tougher environment to operate in. Too many esoteric rules & interpretations to navigate as you are experiencing. I know some people make a lot of money catering to kids. But having anyone that is a minor viewer (under 18), to me, is not something I would encourage anyone to pursue.

 

[Bubblegummonsters]

As a general statement, people who decide to make content for kids are in for a much tougher environment to operate in. Too many esoteric rules & interpretations to navigate as you are experiencing. I know some people make a lot of money catering to kids. But having anyone that is a minor viewer (under 18), to me, is not something I would encourage anyone to pursue.

Yeah I agree. I'm kind of between and rock and hard place at the moment. I've started to create content that is not made for kids but because of the huge backlog of videos I have it appears that the Youtube algorithms aren't really helping audiences find it. So really I do need to remove all these old videos but the problem is I'm going to be broke for quite some time.
Time to find a 'proper' job as people like to say.

 

[Stanley | Team TB]

I don't see anything that stands out myself... this really does look like it was a false flag to me. But beware they do side on these things cautiously. Anything involving children is under the highest scrutiny. While there may not be anything explicit just the prospect of creating content that is based on A) children and B) scaring them can be grounds for concern. No, I don't agree with them but I do understand where they are coming from. If it helps to eliminate this from the platform overall it can be a hard argument.
I am afraid I don't have anything specific I can add for this particular case. I would advise treading carefully with this stuff and so long as you are 100% right about this being a clean, G-Rated channel you may need to fight some appeals along the way. Regardless of whether it is actually 'safe content' your channel does have a foundation of content built on a sensational premise and that will cause flags.

 

[Damon]

Yeah, anything kids oriented is going to be suspect, especially when YouTube was sued big time by the government a few years ago. Right or wrong, anything with kids is going to raise a red flag and cause DEFCON 1 and World War III.

 

[Bubblegummonsters]

I don't see anything that stands out myself... this really does look like it was a false flag to me. But beware they do side on these things cautiously. Anything involving children is under the highest scrutiny. While there may not be anything explicit just the prospect of creating content that is based on A) children and B) scaring them can be grounds for concern. No, I don't agree with them but I do understand where they are coming from. If it helps to eliminate this from the platform overall it can be a hard argument.
I am afraid I don't have anything specific I can add for this particular case. I would advise treading carefully with this stuff and so long as you are 100% right about this being a clean, G-Rated channel you may need to fight some appeals along the way. Regardless of whether it is actually 'safe content' your channel does have a foundation of content built on a sensational premise and that will cause flags.

Thanks Stanley that's great to know. So my next question would be does Youtube just remove your partnership or does it then flag individual videos so that you can at least address each one at a time? At the moment it just feels like I have no way of knowing if it's just one videos that's been flagged or all of them. Should I just remove them all or can I appeal each time a flag gets raised. Obviously I don't want to lose my partnership program.

 

[Bubblegummonsters]

Yeah, anything kids oriented is going to be suspect, especially when YouTube was sued big time by the government a few years ago. Right or wrong, anything with kids is going to raise a red flag and cause DEFCON 1 and World War III.

Yeah I agree which is why I'm pivoting my channel, I just don't want to lose all the old videos that I worked so hard on and more importantly are still earning me money.

 

[Stanley | Team TB]

Yeah I agree which is why I'm pivoting my channel, I just don't want to lose all the old videos that I worked so hard on and more importantly are still earning me money.

I hear that. Really sorry to hear you are going through that. 99% of the time there is always something I can lean back on and say 'yup, you messed up... need to read the rules.' Been a while since I've seen a case like this where you actually do look totally clean. Good luck, if there's any insight/advice or just a shoulder needed to lean on we got you man.

 

[The Jungle Explorer]

First, I just want to say that I am sorry this is happening to you. The work that goes into making content is arduous, and the fact that with a click of a button, YT can delete your account for no logical reason is really infuriating. It's like trying to create content while trying not to push the button on a bomb that will destroy the world, and you do not even know what the dang button looks like.

You may not be aware of this, but there was a huge battle in the past between the FTC and YT, and YT ended up paying something like 170 million dollars in fines for violating the COPA Act. YT went bug-batty nuts after this event and almost choked all child content creators off the platform. Things got so bad that the director of the FTC threatened that "Youtubers are fish in a barrel" and that the FTC will hunt down all YouTubers that target children in any way. YT betrayed YouTubers and passed the buck of blame onto the creator, to get the FTC off their back. YT basically said, "Its the creators fault for us showing ads to children." The FTC announced that they would fine YouTubers $47,000 per violation. The problem was, nobody even knew what the heck a violation was. Hundreds of lawyers youtube made videos about this, but what it all amounted to was; Nobody knows what a violation is and it is up to the individual interpretation of the reviewer."

Let me tell you, things were BAD back then. YT threw the whole blame onto the creators, and then made the creators responsible for keeping them from violating COPA. Honestly, I don't really know how anyone continued to make child content on YT. I myself made several videos about this, calling for the resignation of the FTC director for making the statement about the FTC shooting creators like "Fish in Barrel" (with a big smile on his face). He basically considered YouTubers like violent criminals, and he was "Coming After US!". I was not the only one, either. Within months he was removed from his office, and the FTC apologized for what he said. And I am not even a child content creator. But such was the confusion over what was child content back then that, pretty much every creator that made anything that could be considered Family Friendly was under a microscope and in danger of being fined millions of dollars (47k per violation). I, and a lot of creators, switch all our content to Private to avoid getting targeted. Many other creators started intentionally using the "F" word in all their videos to make them, adult content.

I said all this to help you understand the minefield you have to navigate if you choose to create content that is targeted at children. It is not right, but it is the way things are on YT. YT is paranoid about child content and will always side on the side of paranoid caution. You need to understand this in order to move forward. You can't think about this logically, as if there is a black and white rules about this. You have to adopt YT's paranoid mindset and the look for anything that might be misinterpreted. And just in case you don't know it; on YT, it is absolutely NOT about the guidelines. The Guidlines don't mean squat. Your fate lies 100% in the hands of the OPINION of whatever reviewer gets your case. If you choose to create on YT you must understand that, YT is the master and you are the slave. You have no rights, no voice, and they can kill your channel just for grins and there is absolutely nothing you can do about it. They do not have to even explain why. You are nothing to them no matter how much they claim to "Care about creators".

 

[MediaMan]

I greatly apologize in advance because it's not meant to be harsh, but maybe there's an issue with some of your thumbs? With all due respect some of your thumbs give off a creeper vibe, so maybe someone or some "bot" is misinterpreting one or more of your thumbs? Maybe a more Blippi approach would be more appropriate in today's over dramatic world. I see some of the thumbs with I'm guessing your image, had success, but the vast majority of your popular videos have kids on the thumbs. Maybe the solution is to simply "Blippify" your thumbs? Also, the channels my grandkids watch all have comments disabled, not sure if that could help your situation.

 

[Bubblegummonsters]

I hear that. Really sorry to hear you are going through that. 99% of the time there is always something I can lean back on and say 'yup, you messed up... need to read the rules.' Been a while since I've seen a case like this where you actually do look totally clean. Good luck, if there's any insight/advice or just a shoulder needed to lean on we got you man.

Cheers mate really appreciate all the love and support in this forum, it's a nice place to chat to like minded people. I also use TubeBuddy, so don't know why I've never thought about visiting the forum before. Will definitely be here more often from now on. Thanks again.

 

[Bubblegummonsters]

I greatly apologize in advance because it's not meant to be harsh, but maybe there's an issue with some of your thumbs? With all due respect some of your thumbs give off a creeper vibe, so maybe someone or some "bot" is misinterpreting one or more of your thumbs? Maybe a more Blippi approach would be more appropriate in today's over dramatic world. I see some of the thumbs with I'm guessing your image, had success, but the vast majority of your popular videos have kids on the thumbs. Maybe the solution is to simply "Blippify" your thumbs? Also, the channels my grandkids watch all have comments disabled, not sure if that could help your situation.

Not harsh at all, although I will point out that the thumbnails you've used as examples are actually videos that don't have kids in and aren't set to 'for kids' which is why they're a little more creepier. My channel isn't set to 'for kids either as I do a mixutre of videos. Youtube's claim is referring to my kids content but those videos are either innocent fun or at worst Goosebumps style horror. I think Youtube is just being really really cautious.
I feel I got the worst of both worlds. Not only being flagged as 'for kids' because I have kids in my videos but also flagged because I have characters that can be percieved as scary. From a bot point of view I can see how these videos can be seen as not suitable for kids but the Youtube email specifically says they manually reviewed my channel, which would mean a human must have watched some of the videos and come to that conclusion.
The most frustrating thing is they're happy to do that and say they're going to ban, when you just want to know what videos they're talking about (the ones they've apparently already reviewed) they say they can't give you those details.

It's a similar thing to when they flag videos as 'made for kids' automatically. I've got one called 'FNAF theme park' and although it has my son in it ever so often, it's focus is the theme park which I believe isn't just for kids. And yet Youtube automatically set it to 'for kids'. What made me laugh is they say if you appeal they'll manually review it. I appealed and within one minute I got a reply saying that they'd reviewed the video and deemed it was still 'for kids'. The video is over three minutes long so there is no way a human being reviewed it.
I do think they still need to do more to help out content creators but I understand how difficult it must be with such a huge amount of users. But just don't lie to us.

 

[Bubblegummonsters]

First, I just want to say that I am sorry this is happening to you. The work that goes into making content is arduous, and the fact that with a click of a button, YT can delete your account for no logical reason is really infuriating. It's like trying to create content while trying not to push the button on a bomb that will destroy the world, and you do not even know what the dang button looks like.

You may not be aware of this, but there was a huge battle in the past between the FTC and YT, and YT ended up paying something like 170 million dollars in fines for violating the COPA Act. YT went bug-batty nuts after this event and almost choked all child content creators off the platform. Things got so bad that the director of the FTC threatened that "Youtubers are fish in a barrel" and that the FTC will hunt down all YouTubers that target children in any way. YT betrayed YouTubers and passed the buck of blame onto the creator, to get the FTC off their back. YT basically said, "Its the creators fault for us showing ads to children." The FTC announced that they would fine YouTubers $47,000 per violation. The problem was, nobody even knew what the heck a violation was. Hundreds of lawyers youtube made videos about this, but what it all amounted to was; Nobody knows what a violation is and it is up to the individual interpretation of the reviewer."

Let me tell you, things were BAD back then. YT threw the whole blame onto the creators, and then made the creators responsible for keeping them from violating COPA. Honestly, I don't really know how anyone continued to make child content on YT. I myself made several videos about this, calling for the resignation of the FTC director for making the statement about the FTC shooting creators like "Fish in Barrel" (with a big smile on his face). He basically considered YouTubers like violent criminals, and he was "Coming After US!". I was not the only one, either. Within months he was removed from his office, and the FTC apologized for what he said. And I am not even a child content creator. But such was the confusion over what was child content back then that, pretty much every creator that made anything that could be considered Family Friendly was under a microscope and in danger of being fined millions of dollars (47k per violation). I, and a lot of creators, switch all our content to Private to avoid getting targeted. Many other creators started intentionally using the "F" word in all their videos to make them, adult content.

I said all this to help you understand the minefield you have to navigate if you choose to create content that is targeted at children. It is not right, but it is the way things are on YT. YT is paranoid about child content and will always side on the side of paranoid caution. You need to understand this in order to move forward. You can't think about this logically, as if there is a black and white rules about this. You have to adopt YT's paranoid mindset and the look for anything that might be misinterpreted. And just in case you don't know it; on YT, it is absolutely NOT about the guidelines. The Guidlines don't mean squat. Your fate lies 100% in the hands of the OPINION of whatever reviewer gets your case. If you choose to create on YT you must understand that, YT is the master and you are the slave. You have no rights, no voice, and they can kill your channel just for grins and there is absolutely nothing you can do about it. They do not have to even explain why. You are nothing to them no matter how much they claim to "Care about creators".

Thanks for your support Junlge Explorer, appreciate it.
Yep I went through all that back at the end of 2019, I even made a video about it to get people to sign the petition. It is ridiculous how Youtube were flaunting how their biggest audience is kids between eight and twelve to advertisers and then when they got found out they just past the buck.

And I agree that we really are at their mercy but I definitely think there is something fishy going on when it comes to Youtube turning a blind eye to certain content creators. I see a number of big Youtubers that are clearly made for kids, even have their kids in the videos and yet all their videos still have comments turned on. That just shouldΓÇÖt be allowed and the only reason I can think that it is, is because itΓÇÖs making Youtube too much money. I donΓÇÖt understand how the FTC havenΓÇÖt picked up on these channels and called Youtube out, which makes me really believe there is some corruption going on behind the scenes, it just doesnΓÇÖt make sense.

 

[The Jungle Explorer]

Thanks for your support Junlge Explorer, appreciate it.
Yep I went through all that back at the end of 2019, I even made a video about it to get people to sign the petition. It is ridiculous how Youtube were flaunting how their biggest audience is kids between eight and twelve to advertisers and then when they got found out they just past the buck.

And I agree that we really are at their mercy but I definitely think there is something fishy going on when it comes to Youtube turning a blind eye to certain content creators. I see a number of big Youtubers that are clearly made for kids, even have their kids in the videos and yet all their videos still have comments turned on. That just shouldΓÇÖt be allowed and the only reason I can think that it is, is because itΓÇÖs making Youtube too much money. I donΓÇÖt understand how the FTC havenΓÇÖt picked up on these channels and called Youtube out, which makes me really believe there is some corruption going on behind the scenes, it just doesnΓÇÖt make sense.

If I am not mistaken, I think I remember an email update earlier this year that announced that YT was enabling comments for child content again. I am not 100% sure though. It just seems like I remember reading something about this a while back.

But regardless, YT is a for-profit company. When YT first started, its motto was, "Broadcast Yourself". Their goal was to provide a platform for the common, non-professional person to broadcast themselves. Like all things that start out to be a venue for the common person (Like the Thrifty Nickle, eBay, Craiglist, etc), the professionals soon invade the platform and use their power and influence to push the little guy out. It used to be a place where anyone had a chance. Now you are competing head-to-head with huge professional channels with big budgets and advertising. This is why you need tools like TB to even be in the competition, and even at this, you really can't compete.

Quite honestly, I am pretty much done with YT. I am making 25% of what I made two years ago. It simply is not worth it anymore to produce content for YT. If my earnings keep dropping, I will soon pull all my content off and put it on another platform. Two years ago I had 1/3 the subs I have now and half the views and was making 400% more. YT has just killed me and any hope I had of earning a decent living from making content for YT. You might ask me why, and the only answer I can give is, "Youtube Shorts".

YouTube is sucking the lifeblood out of it's bread and butter long-form content creators in their ravenous insanity to push Shorts. YT is not and never will be a Shorts platform. EVERY statistic shows that YT is viewed as an educational platform and the 65% of views go to YT to find answers to problems. It is not a gaming platform, not a child content platform, and not a shorts platform. It is an EDUCATIONAL platform. People go to YT for the information they need. Can you remember YT ever saying anything they are doing to help their education content creators? Hmmm...? No you can't, because it has never happened. YT is flat out ignoring what 65% of their viewers want, to go chasing after TikTok viewers.

I have already stopped making new content for YT. I am now producing content for Amazon. As long as I am earning something from YT I will leave my content up, but I am converting all the stuff that is compatible with Amazon, to the Amazon format. I think YT is sinking and they are shooting holes in the boat to sink it faster. As the old bread and butter creators , like me, that have been around since the beginning start jumping ship, I believe all that will remain is professionally produced Netflix style content on YouTube premium.