Following their temporary suspension of ads on Logan Paul’s channel, YouTube have released new penalties for creators that post harmful content.
YouTube outlined the new measures that it would take in a blog post, coinciding with the demonetization of Paul’s channel.
The additional penalties, which go beyond their community guidelines, are in direct response to criticism levied at the platform over their inaction to Paul’s vlog from Aokigahara, in which he filmed a recent suicide victim.
Ariel Bardin, Vice President of Product Management at YouTube, posted the following steps that the platform might take, should a creator upload content deemed harmful to the wider community.
- Premium Monetization Programs, Promotion and Content Development Partnerships. We may remove a channel from Google Preferred and also suspend, cancel or remove a creator’s YouTube Original.
- Monetization and Creator Support Privileges. We may suspend a channel’s ability to serve ads, ability to earn revenue and potentially remove a channel from the YouTube Partner Program, including creator support and access to our YouTube Spaces.
- Video Recommendations. We may remove a channel’s eligibility to be recommended on YouTube, such as appearing on our home page, trending tab or watch next.
Logan Paul — who recently came under fire once again, after the YouTuber uploaded a video where he tased a dead rat — has already seen the first two penalties applied to his channel.
These new guidelines should allow YouTube to respond to future infractions faster and with more transparency. However, it remains to be seen what content the platform will ultimately deem “harmful.” With demonetization recently occurring on videos pertaining to LGBTQIA+ issues, we can only hope that these steps won’t negatively impact the community, rather than encourage positive change.