![[YOUTUBE]: My Response to “We are Toughening Our Approach to Protect Families on YouTube and YouTube Kids” avatar](https://buddy-baker.us/blog/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/bbus-brian_avatar-64x64.jpg){kind=avatar}
I am posting today because I feel STRONGLY that YouTube may be pushing things a bit to far with regards to them “Toughening their Approach to Protect Families on YouTube and YouTube Kids. They have listed 5 things that they have done to make this happen.
While I APPLAUD YouTube for doing this, I question the manner in which they are doing this. Consequently, YouTubers that run small channels like me (LINK HERE) as well as others in my position are being targeted by a BOT (program) that is shutting down YouTube Channels left and right without WARNING or REASON based SOLEY on this BOT. OK: so, lets get into my response, because even if they do all of these things, it still is unfair because we as Small YouTubers have no RECOURSE other then to fill out FORMS, and if wrong, or will fill it out wrong, we LOSE for LIFE.
YT: 1. Tougher application of our Community Guidelines and faster enforcement through technology: We have always had strict policies against child endangerment, and we partner closely with regional authorities and experts to help us enforce these policies and report to law enforcement through NCMEC. In the last couple of weeks we expanded our enforcement guidelines around removing content featuring minors that may be endangering a child, even if that was not the uploader’s intent. In the last week we terminated over 50 channels and have removed thousands of videos under these guidelines, and we will continue to work quickly to remove more every day. We also implemented policies to age-restrict (only available to people over 18 and logged in) content with family entertainment characters but containing mature themes or adult humor. To help surface potentially violative content, we are applying machine learning technology and automated tools to quickly find and escalate for human review.
When you say you are getting “tougher” and you do that by saying: Tougher application of our Community Guidelines and faster enforcement through technology: This is good, but in your haste to remove content that you believe constitutes “Child Endangerment,” you are using a program that is just shutting down channel after channel, with ambiguous reasons, and we are left out in the cold to figure out what we did wrong, and some of these channels are INNOCENT. The idea that YouTube wants to protect children and families is fine, but when you do this QUICKLY, and you are just running your BOTS, in most cases, this content may be inappropriate – but if it IS NOT inappropriate, this BOT is just KILLING good content, without regard for the user who is TRYING to make GOOD content that does NOT break the rules, and in this haste, users are getting annoyed, some of us may not UNDERSTAND what is going on, and that is why YouTube should have a HUMAN BEING that we can a) email and b) get a response from that is NOT an automated response after the first request for help. YouTube is so automated, that I feel that the GOOD people are getting neglected, run over, DISRESPECTD and DEMONITISED for no reason. Who is the judge of what is “Indecent” or “Inappropriate? If a BOT, then this thing has flagged videos about “Environmental and Tree Planting Videos” and “Christmas Carols” and videos that talk about a child’s disability, are apparently considered to be “child exploitation?” These Videos are HARMLESS, and a BOT should not have the final say on this, a HUMAN should be contacting us, and give us an EMAIL ADDRESS to respond to: This way, we can DISPUTE the actions that are found by us to be egregious. Is YouTube Afraid that we are going to win against this? Are they afraid that we will find fault with their decision? THERE IS FAULT – and it rests with a system that is TOO TOUGH on the WRONG people! Your “machine learning” is flawed, and you need to have an appropriate appeal process that we can ENGAGE IN rather than to have everybody filling out forms that go somewhere, only to get back a response 2 seconds later that says that “the decision is final”
YT: 2. Removing ads from inappropriate videos targeting families: Back in June, we posted an update to our advertiser-friendly guidelines making it clear that we will remove ads from any content depicting family entertainment characters engaged in violent, offensive, or otherwise inappropriate behavior, even if done for comedic or satirical purposes. Since June, we’ve removed ads from 3M videos under this policy and we’ve further strengthened the application of that policy to remove ads from another 500K violative videos.
There should be NO ADS on any videos that are Kid Friendly anyway. Again: If you start axing videos because of content not being friendly to kids, based on a BOT, then there are issues with this. I don’t think that all comedy is bad, and I don’t think that satire or joking around is bad either – if the content is NOT suitable for young kids, then they should not be watching this content, but again, even with YouTube Kids, you can NOT stop people from watching this content, and if the content is allowable for ADULTS or TEENS to view, they should be able to view this content, or as PARENTS, they decide what is appropriate content for their families. Sexual Predators have NO FRICKIN BUSINESS on YOUTUBE at ALL – You should DELETE any channels that show this type of stuff, and HUMANS should be the judge of that: Don’t let that BOT decide everything for you!
YT: 3. Blocking inappropriate comments on videos featuring minors: We have historically used a combination of automated systems and human flagging and review to remove inappropriate sexual or predatory comments on videos featuring minors. Comments of this nature are abhorrent and we work with NCMEC to report illegal behavior to law enforcement. Starting this week we will begin taking an even more aggressive stance by turning off all comments on videos of minors where we see these types of comments.
GOOD – This should be done anyway – The fact that there are “deadbeats” who put this stuff out should tell you that you need to step up and do more to remove some of the TRASHY COMMENTS and SICK predatory Neanderthals who post them. THESE are the FRICKIN PEOPLE who should have NO APPEAL if they are suspended – NOT hard working, small time YouTubers and people who are following the rules, and TRYING to put out GOOD content. We all make mistakes, but YouTube don’t see that, they just kill you and your dead 🙁
YT: 4. Providing guidance for creators who make family-friendly content: We’ve created a platform for people to view family-friendly content — YouTube Kids. We want to help creators produce quality content for the YouTube Kids app, so in the coming weeks we will release a comprehensive guide on how creators can make enriching family content for the app.
OOOOH: This one is one that makes me ANGRY: YouTube has been eliminating HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS of videos (and Channels) as they work around the clock. YouTube Says they are providing “guidance for creators.” In My Mind, there is NO GUIDANCE from the FOOLS at YouTube, who MAKE the decision: You have a Telephone number, staffed with “Google Guides” who tell you to come to this forum and ask for HELP – But you CANT ask anyone that has the ability to DO ANYTHING to help deal with your issue, and all they do, is tell you “Go to <link of someautomatedshitform> and fill it out, and see what happens> and about .5% of the time, it seems like you may get your channel back, but if there is a problem, you BLOW your ONLY APPEAL – and you lose. The other 99.35 percent of the time, you get an automated shitcomputer giving you the <YOU ARE SUSPENDED – THIS IS FINAL> letter, (In miliseconds after submission) and if you don’t have the ability to appeal properly, you can’t do it again.
SUPPORT: YouTube is a USER PLATFORM: So why is there NOT a WORKING email that we can send concerns to, and communicate with a HUMAN BEING? It seems like the innocent people who are trying hard to do the RIGHT things are not being treated FAIRLY – YouTube needs to SIMPLIFY the way this is done, ALLOW for UNLIMITED Appeals – Then a HUMAN can decide, and if the BOT makes a decision, it can be OVERRIDDEN – SOMEONE on YouTube wrote the post I am responding to, so why can’t there be a place where we can get ANSWERS to questions we have? If we could ASK someone about some of these issues, and get an ANSWER, then maybe there would be LESS of a chance of getting TERMINATED with no recourse – we should have the ability to FIX a mistake, and shutting down HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS of channels and turning OFF Monitization sitewide are causing havoc with the good people. All we hear is “No one from YouTube Ever reads this anyway!”
CHANGE THIS: YouTube should be REQUIRED to have a working email address, with people that can support the userbase, and that way, if we have any questions, or wish to DISPUTE what is being done, we have a way to do this WITHOUT filling out a form and getting no useable information. How would YouTube like it if I made a program that said “shutdown youtube, and DELETE everything, leaving the domain just a BLANK Directory Listing?” The answer is that, YouTube would NOT like that (And I am using this as an example of how it may feel for users who lose their channels, simply because a BOT found something that causes a problem) – There is NO SUPPORT – If you Lose, you CANNOT have another chance, and this is why I feel that YouTube is “fake” – By that, I mean: “Bots do everything, and everything runs on a web form.” Does the CEO of this enterprise understand why I feel this way, does a Community Manager? I can’t believe that YouTube Won’t Help us, they just find a problem, slap a penalty, and we have to work it out because there is a VACUUM on here – You have to be a walking legal encyclopedia to be able to understand some of the Nuances of long winded legal decisions – YouTube wants us to KNOW EVERY WORD of the documents we agree to, but heaven forbid I make a mistake……..
YOUTUBE needs to reevaluate the way things run around here: We Need a direct line to someone in Google/YouTube that can EXPLAIN things to us, to CLARIFY things for us, and who can TELL us with NO BS what the problem is, and show us EVIDENCE of the misdeed – YouTube Basically can do/say anything they want, and they will do what they want, but what about us? WE CAN’T DO ANTHING AT ALL – If we can’t appeal properly, because there is no appropriate way to EMAIL anyone, then how good is the process – This process is RUNNING people OVER, at the pleasure of a FRICKIN FLAWED program – Use HUMANS for 70% of this, and let us know what you are doing – You may find that it would be better for all. I WANT A COMMUNITY MANAGER to respond to this in OPEN FORUM, and let us know that they heard ME – I am scared that I am gonna mess up sometime, by accident, and I’m gonna end up being TERMINATED! I want to be able to do it right!
PLEASE: LET US BE HEARD – NOT SILENCED!!
YT: 5. While there is some content that clearly doesn’t belong on YouTube, there is other content that is more nuanced or challenging to make a clear decision on. For example, today, there are many cartoons in mainstream entertainment that are targeted towards adults, and feature characters doing things we wouldn’t necessarily want children to see. Those may be OK for YouTube.com, or if we require the viewer to be over 18, but not for someone younger. Similarly, an adult dressed as a popular family character could be questionable content for some audiences, but could also be meant for adults recorded at a comic book convention. To help us better understand how to treat this content, we will be growing the number of experts we work with, and doubling the number of Trusted Flaggers we partner with in this area.
YES: There is Some content that does NOT belong on YOUTUBE OR YOUTUBE KIDS – Other content is challenging to decide on – But if this is the case, age restriction should be able to deal with some of this. There is content on here that may be questionable, but as ADULTS we should be able to watch it – KIDS should not – If a video depicts something OBIOUSLY wrong, DELETE it and keep deleting it – PREDATORS should NOT FRICKIN BE HERE AT ALL – but these people get banned, and they come back, like cockroaches – Videos depicting cartoon characters in sexual situations don’t belong here, but you see all these deadbeats doing it over and over, and so far, it feels like its the “creator” who is getting punished – I will NOT post things like this on my channel, but I would HOPE that Freedom of Speech, or Disagreeing with YouTube’s views will not result in termination – we all have opinions – and as long as we can RESPECTFULLY state these, or make videos with differing opinions, I would hope that YouTube’s BOT won’t shut me down! This is why HUMANS should be involved in all processes, and why open accountability is CRITICAL – How can Creators make sure that they don’t do bad things – SIMPLE – a HUMAN TO ASK VIA EMAIL before we get canned for stupid reasons!
No – You need “trusted flaggers” who are HUMANS, who can UNDO false or erroneous strikes/terminations, and to get in touch with the ones that are actually playing with our channels. I have YET to see anyone who even FITS that definition YET, and I worry that all YouTube will do is just make up some BS posting, that further complicates an already complicated system. I can make a video and it is simple to do that, upload it, watch it, link to it, and be done, but make ONE mistake, and it is a COMPLICATED and LONG WINDED process that will deny you most times, because people do NOT understand how to do an appeal properly – Better Yet – Make it so that you can FLAG a channel a “GOOD CHANNEL” so the bot isn’t taking us down.
Please here us, and save us from this hell!!!
Brian
