YouTube's New Video Monetization "Self Certification Program"

Do you like this new program idea?

  • Yes

    Votes: 2 50.0%
  • No

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Indifferent / Neutral

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Ambivalent / Undecided

    Votes: 2 50.0%
  • Not Applicable

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Total voters
    4

KatyAdelson

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Hi Everyone!

This is something I heard about last year from the Creator Insider channel, but I've just now noticed it's been posted in the YouTube Support section! YouTube is creating a new thing called the "Self Certification Program," where creators can fill out a questionnaire to tell YouTube whether or not their video can be monetized.

Link:
https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/7687980?vid=0-1331911276696-1524158200751

The idea is that YouTube would assume the creators know their videos best, and can hold enough autonomy to determine whether or not a video is safe for advertisers, rather than having YouTube's algorithm essentially "guess" when videos are NOT advertiser friendly. The creator would fill out a questionnaire each time they upload a video, and their video would have the monetization option removed only if the creator said the video shouldn't be monetized based on their responses to the questionnaire.

If a creator fills out the questionnaire honestly and consistently matches what YouTube's manual video checking employees determine as safe for monetization, then some sort of "trust level" with the creator may be built up over time (or at least the video mentions something about that...).

Here is the video from Creator Insider from last April:

And here is the sample questionnaire that is mentioned in the above video:
****Sample Self Certification Questionnaire:****

Audience:
What audience is the video appropriate for?
[ ] Appropriate for all audiences
[ ] Only appropriate for teenagers and up
[ ] Only appropriate for mature audiences​

Profanity:
Does this video contain profanity or vulgarity?
[ ] No profanity, or light profanity used in a non-hateful, comedic, or artistic manner.
[ ] Moderate profanity used occasionally in a non-hateful, comedic, or artistic manner, or a music video with profanity throughout
[ ] Profanity used throughout or at the very beginning of the video in the context of comedy, documentary, news, or education
[ ] Profanity in the title or thumbnail image, or profanity used repeatedly in a vulgar or hateful context​

Sexualized content:
Does the video, audio, or images contain sexual content or nudity?
[ ] No sexual content, or content with romance, kissing, limited clothing in non-sexual settings, or general discussions of relationships or sexuality
[ ] Limited clothing in sexual settings, sensual dancing, moderate sexually suggestive behavior, or a music video containing sexual content
[ ] Blurred nudity, focus on sexual body parts, focus on sex as a topic, discussions about sex acts, implied or display of sex acts or sex toys without visible contact or nudity
[ ] Full nudity, explicit sex acts, exposed nipples, animal mating, sexual abuse, or sexual content in the thumbnail​

Violence or graphic content:
Does the video, audio, or images contain violent or graphic content?
[ ] No violence, or content contains mild violence or injury without showing blood or graphic content Violence as part of video games, comedy, or music videos
[ ] Contains educational, historical, or documentary content related to war and conflict
[ ] Focus on blood, gore, and violence in video games, animal violence, or animation. Sports, accidents, pranks, or “fails” with serious injury. Blood shown in body modification or medical procedures.
[ ] Graphic content shown including severe injury, real death, harm to minors, and abuse of animals​

Drugs:
Does the video, audio, or images contain illegal, recreational, regulated drugs or substances, or other dangerous products?
[ ] No drug-related content, or content with humorous references, education, music, or statements without glorifying or promoting drugs
[ ] Displays consumption, fabrication, and distribution of drugs in the context of music, comedy, news, education, or documentary
[ ] Depicts abuse, buying, making, selling, or finding drugs in a graphic and detailed way​

Hurtful:
Does the video, audio, or images contain words that could be considered biased, demeaning, or hate speech against a protected group (for example: race, religion, national origin, gender, sexual identity, age, disability, military status)?
[ ] No. Any references to protected groups are in a non-hurtful, comedic context.
[ ] Yes, but used as part of news, documentary, or education
[ ] Yes, video is likely to offend an individual or members of a protected group​

Firearms:
Does the video contain images of real firearms or weapons?
[ ] No
[ ] Yes
[ ] Yes, and contains information about fabrication or modification of firearms to increase capacity, concealment, or lethality​

Sensitive current events:
Does this video discuss terrorism or sensitive current events like war, death, or tragedy?
[ ] No
[ ] Yes​

Have any of you guys heard more about this, or has anyone been selected to test out the new program?? What do you think? Do you think creators will be able to honestly fill out a survey that could remove the option for monetization of a video? Do you think this would be better than the current monetization system, or do you think we may be destined for another Ad-pocalypse if something like this were to be implemented for everyone in the YouTube Partner Program? :eek:
 

GrannyGamer

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Thanks for sharing that information. I'm not monetised so haven't really looked into it on that level. It will definately be interesting to see how it all shapes up. Unfortunately I don't think everyone will be honest or accurate enough to keep this 'honesty type system' stable however we are trusted to fill out forms when we travel overseas going through customs so who knows... but then again that's why we have borderline security haha. I'm sure there will be harsh penalties for those that don't do the right thing.
 
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GameVestment

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I think is a great idea specially if the username shows a trust badge or something! If someone is not being honest just give him a good punishment like not being able to upload in 1 week, a strike or simply enough just disable monetisation.

There should also be a separate system where viewers can flag the video if the creator is not telling the truth!
 

GrannyGamer

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I think is a great idea specially if the username shows a trust badge or something! If someone is not being honest just give him a good punishment like not being able to upload in 1 week, a strike or simply enough just disable monetisation.

There should also be a separate system where viewers can flag the video if the creator is not telling the truth!
Yes! This is a great idea and would make the whole system transparent, I never even thought of it that way but it would make people accountable when ticking the boxes at the upload stage, especially knowing their audience is also their assessors!
 

KatyAdelson

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I think I like the idea of the program, and hope to see it go live for everyone once the bugs are worked out. However, I do think there are always going to be those people who lie and try to cheat the system. If YouTube could create another, perhaps less severe, strike system for misrepresenting the questionnaire, then I think it'd work well. :) I kind of think this might end up working like regular laws in the country -- there are always the few who try to break them to benefit themselves (and perhaps they could be caught by computer code and/or manual reviews...), but most of us follow laws without needing to be constantly watched over... ^_^