YouTube has updated two major features in response to creators’ growing dissatisfaction with the platform’s most recent policy change: the next phase for its display of timestamps for violations of the Community Guidelines, and a new ‘Guided Resolution Flow’ to address issues. Over the past few months, YouTube has been refining its timestamps feature, which indicates exactly when a violation occurs in a video clip. Here, you can see how the timestamps display not only the policy in question, but also when exactly the violation occurred in the video. Additional policy details are linked for greater openness when dealing with upload problems.
Afterward, users have the option of appealing the report or removing the offending portion of the video in order to keep the video online and/or regain monetization. YouTube says it plans to roll out the alerts to a wider audience soon, but for now, only a select group of creators can access the feature. YouTube is also working on a new guided resolution flow for violations and reports, which will provide content makers with additional direction on how to address viewer complaints.
It’s a lot like the time-based alerts, but with some extra steps that will give creators a better grasp of what went wrong and what they can do to fix it. We’ll pinpoint the exact location of the infraction, specify which policy was broken, and explain how it affects the specific piece of content. At the conclusion of the assisted problem-solving process, we’ll lay out the paths forward and make it simple for creators to select one.
This is a welcome change that couldn’t have come at a better time, as YouTube’s most recent policy update has resulted in the retroactive demonetization of many videos, causing an enormous amount of hardship for the platform’s creators. An update to YouTube’s Advertiser Friendly Guidelines was released in November, and it includes new restrictions on the use of foul language and graphic violence in user-uploaded videos. In particular, many gaming creators are now in violation of YouTube’s rules because the games they stream contain violent content that is prohibited by the site’s policies. See Also: The United States Might Actually Avoid A Recession In 2023.
The retroactive limiting of ads in all videos with bad language within the first 15 seconds has also caused creators to express displeasure with the way the rules around profanity are being applied. Attempts by YouTube to be more open and forthcoming about addressing violations and other problematic content are welcome. Even though this won’t address the problem of regressive demonetization, it might help end users deal with similar circumstances in the future. Currently in beta, the updates will be made available to a wider audience of creators in the near future.
