Since YouTube enacted a new advertiser-friendly strategy in March that gives more control to brands over where their ads show up on the online video sharing platform, alarms have been sounded that YouTube may be unfairly demonetizing videos posted by Trump supporters, conservatives and Christians.
As reports have surfaced in the last few months showing that conservatives of many stripes have had their videos marked as “unsuitable for all advertisers” by the Google-owned platform — thus making them ineligible to receive advertising revenue — YouTube is urging video uploaders who feel their videos have been demonetized unfairly, to appeal for a manual review. “We asked creators across the platform to appeal any video that they felt was incorrectly classified by our automated systems. No system is perfect and every appeal helps our systems get smarter over time,” claiming that, “Channels of all types — gamers, bloggers, political channels on the right and left — have successfully appealed demonetizations.”
demonetization has included videos on “The Activist Mommy” (a homeschool blog), “AskDrBrown,” a conservative radio program and former Congressman Ron Paul’s “RonPaulLibertyReport,” among others.
The YouTube spokesperson said that many of these creators have had their ad eligibility reinstated on their videos after human review.
But that doesn’t solve the problem. Even though some of the Ron Paul Liberty Report videos have been reinstated for advertisement eligibility by YouTube reviewers, a spokesman for Paul’s videos does not see “any improvement in how YouTube is treating Ron Paul’s Liberty Report.” “All of the Ron Paul Liberty Report videos have not been re-monetized,” McAdams explained. “Even if some of the past Liberty Report episodes had been switched from ‘not suitable for advertising’ to ‘suitable for advertising,’ it makes little difference to our ability to monetize the program. Allowing a three-month old analysis of a news event to suddenly have advertisements has little to no effect, as interest in the topic has largely faded after the first 24 or so hours,” and added that YouTube is still not putting ads in their videos,” even though they have been approved for ads.
“When we submit videos for monetization with YouTube, one of two things invariably happens: most often the episode is automatically rejected and we are forced to submit to a lengthy review process … or, less often, a video will be ‘approved’ for ads and within 24 hours suddenly unapproved.”
Dr. Michael Brown of “AskDrBrown,” said that while YouTube’s human reviewers reinstated demonetized videos that focused on theological debate and Bible teaching, other videos where Brown is critical of things like Planned Parenthood, radical Islam and LGBT issues, were “confirmed as not suitable for advertising.”
“As far as I can tell, every single video dealing with [Planned Parenthood] or LGBT or Islam has been demonetized, and everyone that has been reviewed so far has been confirmed as not suitable for advertising,” he explained. “However, theological debates and Bible teaching videos that have been reviewed have now been approved. So it’s clear which videos [YouTube] is saying are NOT suitable… So the lines have been drawn very clearly,” he added. Brown says that his advertising revenue is still down about 70%.
YouTube’s “advertiser-friendly content guidelines say, “Video 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 that is associated with systemic discrimination or marginalization is not eligible for advertising,” the guidelines’ section on “hateful content” states.
In addressing “controversial issues and sensitive events,” the document explains: “Video content that features or focuses on sensitive topics or events including, but not limited to, war, political conflicts, terrorism or extremism, death and tragedies, sexual abuse, even if graphic imagery is not shown, is generally not eligible for ads. For example, videos about recent tragedies, even if presented for news or documentary purposes, may not be eligible for advertising given the subject matter.”
YouTube Chief Business Officer Philipp Schindler clarified YouTube’s motive in demonetizing some sites. “We know advertisers don’t want their ads next to content that doesn’t align with their values. So starting today, we’re taking a tougher stance on hateful, offensive and derogatory content,” Schindler wrote. “This includes removing ads more effectively from content that is attacking or harassing people based on their race, religion, gender or similar categories.”
But Dr. Brown believes that YouTube’s policy is being applied unfairly. “From my vantage point, YouTube is not using their policy fairly,” he asserted. “There’s strong evidence that conservative content is being targeted, meaning that, if you adhere to the leftist, party line, your videos are not controversial or hateful. But if you address the same subject from a conservative point of view, even with civility and fairness, your content will be deemed controversial and/or hateful, hence, not suitable for all advertisers.”
So, this is how social media will marginalize God’s people with the full message against Babylon and the Beast.
“And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.” Revelation 13:17.