YouTube should not demonetize videos that are not “Family friendly.” During my free time I like to go on YouTube and watch a variety of videos. I like to watch makeup tutorials, baking and cooking videos, etc. Something that I have noticed is many youtubers making videos explaining that they are not making as much, if any, money anymore due to the demonetization of many videos.

Many youtubers such as Bart Baker will go on “hiatus” and will not create any parodies for some time due to not earning any money because his parodies are expensive. It worries me that some of my favorite youtubers cannot provide the content I like to watch. The demonetization restricts the creativity of youtubers and what they can create and upload. If this continues, what will I be able to watch during my free time? A youtuber’s salary comes from the companies that pay to run their ads on their video. The question is why have many ads been suspended on YouTube videos? The reason is companies “discover[ed] their ads were making money for videos containing hate speech or supporting terrorism” (https://www.recode.net/2017/3/30/15128654/youtube-creators-revenue-drop-brand-safety-controversy). With that, many youtubers started losing ad revenue or lost it all together. This goes hand in hand with the new “family friendly” (more like ad-friendly) policies which are affecting a lot of youtubers. Youtuber PewDiePie said, “No more swearing, no more sexual jokes and definitely no more Hitler jokes. I wish I was joking, I’m not. It seems that YouTube has made some changes and about a third of my videos have become demonetized. I’m going to have [to be] family friendly from now on so I don’t go homeless” (https://www.polygon.com/2017/4/10/15246814/pewdiepie-youtube-family-friendly-twitch).

Junior Aviaunce L. said, “I think YouTube meant well when they created this new “family friendly” restriction, however it has resulted in a lot of youtubers that are not hate speech spewers to be affected by this.”

I disagree with the new family friendly policies. I don’t see the need for youtubers to enact “family friendly” videos when “YouTube Kids” already exists. YouTube Kids is a great idea for parents who worry that their children will stumble upon videos not appropriate for their age. Many youtubers who I personally watch are being demonetized and it’s unfair. Although, their videos would not be considered family friendly, they are definitely not inappropriate. The worst thing about many videos I watch is just foul language. Many of the youtubers I watch are very hardworking and good people and do not deserve the loss of their salary. Many youtubers are either going to stop making videos for the mean time, try to accommodate the new policies, or move to other places such as Twitch for the time being while YouTube sorts out everything. I personally feel these new policies are limiting and restricting what kind of content youtubers can upload. 

YouTube is a great website and will always be one of my favorite websites to go on during my free time. Hopefully, YouTube sorts out their ad-revenue policies so many youtubers will keep creating content for millions of people around the world.