YT Community Guidelines: "Clickbait Thumbnails"

[LJay]

In my recommended section on both my homepage and right hand pane when I'm watching a YouTube video, I get a lot of the same recommended videos. It's in the gaming category and it's from one channel that is always using smutty clickbait type thumbnails. You know the typical sort with boobs or buttocks in the thumbnail? Well the ones I'm getting from this channel are gaming related that are all virtually sexual in nature such as blurred out genitalia and sexual poses and overly suggestive actions.

Isn't this kind of behavior forbidden by YouTube? To use suggestive/sexual type thumbnails to draw viewers into the video? All I remember about this subject is that I should stay away from it but hasn't YouTube stepped up their policies about it lately? When the reply girls were making out like bandits with their content I remember YouTube changed the viewing system but they haven't done anything in regards to tolerance for really racy thumbnails have they?

I report a lot of the really bad stuff people do like meta-tagging, bumping, spam and mis-categorization but for a while I've been unsure of Thumbnails in this extreme degree. The last I heard on this subject was that as long as the video has to do with the Thumbnails, that kind of content is okay?

I need some schooling on this matter.

 

[Jawad Soomro]

well around 2006 youtube removed the THUMBNAIL feature for non-partners to avoid sexual thumbnails, but now anyone can upload such thumbnails hahaha

 

[WolfWraith]

Misleading thumbnails are against the ToS and thumbnails that have explicit nudity are against it too. That's about as far as I know when it comes to thumbnails.

 

[GamersName]

All you can do is to report that guy who uses such ways of attracting audience. I actually miss old times when you had to be partnered to be able to use such functions as custom thumbnail.

 

[SlenderMan]

If a lot of people reported someone's channel for being a douche on every thumbnails, they might learn a lesson as soon as he got terminated

 

[LJay]

I assume this channel is partnered but the video I watched did not have any advertisements. Since about three years ago the channel started to grow when it began to use the same smutty thumbnails to attract viewers. Furthermore, the videos do relate to the thumbnails but the thumbnails are the same as the ones I described before.

Anyone else have some good knowledge on this subject? Can a channel be reported and terminated for using blurred out breasts as clickbait?

 

[WolfWraith]

I assume this channel is partnered but the video I watched did not have any advertisements. Since about three years ago the channel started to grow when it began to use the same smutty thumbnails to attract viewers. Furthermore, the videos do relate to the thumbnails but the thumbnails are the same as the ones I described before.

Anyone else have some good knowledge on this subject? Can a channel be reported and terminated for using blurred out breasts as clickbait?

It's possible: https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/72431?hl=en "Thumbnails that are sexually suggestive, violent, or graphic may cause your video to be age-restricted. Age-restricted partner videos will not have advertising served against them and will not appear on browse pages." also "The ability to upload custom thumbnails may be revoked for creators who consistently use thumbnails that don't follow our guidelines. If your thumbnail privileges have been revoked, we will not be able to restore this privilege."