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cheese-water · 1 year

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Alright, here we go.

Under the cut is the message I sent to YouTube about how the company handles flagging deemed “age restricted content” and the lack of transparency and communication given to content creators. Specifically, how they’ve treated RTGame. I am in no ways a expert and would not liked to be posed as such. I am simply someone exercising their thoughts and opinions on the matter and very aware of the slim likelihood of YouTube reading my feedback, let alone causing change. All I’m doing is sharing my emotions after three and a half hours of writing. And 1600 words later, it was sent.

TW: slight mentions of themes described in YouTube’s Age Restricted Filter (ie Gore, Predatory Behavior, Minors in sexual situations, etc.); hopelessness; slight derealization

Please enjoy my reaction.

Based on what has happened with RTGame, Daniel, and many other YouTubers, the rules and guidelines listed here do not fully encompass what YouTube considers "age-restricted content." I know for a fact that, through my own and others' experiences watching Daniel’s videos, he and the content he produces all fit within the guidelines listed out: nothing harmful or meant for adults that minors could easily imitate; not presenting 18+ content in a way that appeals and could be confused as children’s content; no harmful, realistic pranks that might be construed as real; no invitations to perform inappropriate, sexual dancing, fondling, or groping; nothing that contains provocative clothing or poses to arouse viewers; no images or videos of detailed, violent gore, such as injuries sustained from a car accident, as the central theme in videos; no overuse of profanities and vulgar language found in video titles, thumbnails, and the content itself, and not a single video where the content is simply swears and other profanity out of context.

I am fully aware that this does not fully encompass the policies you have set, but after thoroughly reading the guidelines found in the link, I’ve concluded that my point still stands by exemplifying his complicity with the themes displayed on the main page. This is unacceptable on your part. Why do I have to list out what a ludicrous decision it is to limit and age-restrict at least 12 of Daniel’s videos in the past 48 hours? Why, after repeated requests for contact and appeal, is Dan sent the exact same manual review response stating that a 3-hour video was in fact "not advertiser friendly" after receiving the request 10 minutes earlier? Why is this continuing to be a problem on YouTube? At this point, it’s just disappointing to see a site supposedly "built for creators" have their entire livelihoods ruined because of reasons they weren’t told about or weren't able to fix. In the last paragraph, "Check if your content is age-restricted," you state, "Our systems are constantly being updated, and if we find any discrepancies with your rating, there’s a chance it could change." Now why are YouTubers, who have managers in contact with them or even work at YouTube, only finding out about these changes after they have been stricken? Wouldn’t it make more sense for you, the company in charge, to communicate with creators about this fluctuating filter in order for them to avoid creating said "age-restricted content?" Most creators on the platform, including Daniel, do not want to advertise cannabis dispensaries or expose their viewers to gory imagery. I am able to say that with such conviction because of the amount of distress those YouTubers feel when they face an age restriction on a supposedly safe video. No one benefits, not the creators, the viewers, or even YouTube itself, when a video is flagged as 18+ without any warning, context, or possible reconsideration with your current way of operating.

Now, at this point, I could speculate that YouTube does indeed benefit from this due to the vague phrasing and information about the "constantly updated filter" in your systems, allowing you to excuse undeserved content being flagged under the guise of "newly added guidelines" and allowing you to keep all revenue generated from said video and not split it with the creator. However, that’s just baseless speculation from someone who has never experienced demonetization or age-restriction personally, and something I don’t believe. I am one for facts, not groundless conjecture, so instead, I’ll tell you two reasons why YouTube will not benefit from this lack of transparency with creators and how it’s on the road to failure.

As mentioned previously, I frequently watch and enjoy the content produced by Daniel, also known as RTGame, a full-time content creator. While for some reason he has been seemingly targeted with your way of age-restricting inappropriate content, including multiple past and oddly privatized videos on his channel, that is not why I bring up Dan once again. No, I would like to inform you of something he said merely a few months ago about YouTube. While this is purely verbatim, I have faith in YouTube’s team to find this quote in one of his videos on his channels if you don’t trust me, Daniel states his frustration and disappointment with Amazon, specifically Twitch’s handling of the payment split between Amazon and streamers and the change including the members of the Twitch Partner Program. I specifically recall Dan going as far as to say that if this was the direction Twitch would continue to head in, including streamers being forced to run advertisements in the middle of their streams, he was likely to leave the platform and join YouTube Gaming. He said that even after facing unwarranted 18+ flags on his content the year prior. To be more specific, exactly the year prior regarding the age restriction of "Best of 2021." How about that? I can’t speak for Daniel or anyone else who is facing this situation, but I can tell you objectively that when a direct competitor’s successful employee starts to grow tired and irritated at the competitor’s management and publicly states the likelihood of them moving to you, you better work your hardest to stay on their good side. Have you already fractured your chance with not only Daniel but many streamers on different platforms due to your public negligence and utter disregard for this man’s creations and, most importantly, livelihood? I don’t know. It all seems to depend on what you do next. You did this to yourself.

Now, why did I do this? Why have I gone and spent my time and effort illustrating my thoughts about restricted content while defending a man and a community to which I’m simply a stranger? Why have YouTube's actions, your actions, fueled me to type all this out, begging that there’s someone human on the other side of the computer breathing, reading out my thoughts instead of being sent to a spam filter, screaming out my lungs into this void, half of me knowing that this was a waste of time but the other half grasping on this false hope that by sending this, something, anything, will change? Why put myself through this? Because of the second reason:

Myself.

…or at least what I represent in the grand scheme of YouTube.

I, for all my life, wanted to be a YouTuber when I grew up. Nothing else—as much as I knew it was a slim possibility—was where I felt most comfortable (literally, I’m wearing YouTuber merch right now). I dreamed of the content I could create, the people I would meet, and, most importantly, my impact on others. That’s what drives me as a person—not money, fame, or even meeting my idols—the ability to change someone’s life for the better just through my passion. All of my life, I knew what I wanted to do; all I needed were the materials to create it. And after so long, I have them. Not just the material items, but the time, motivation, and mental health—everything I needed to hopefully be the force of creativity and positivity in others' lives that the content creators I watch are in mine. I was hoping to actually post in the next two weeks, with the beginning of 2023 and everything.

Then this happened.

Again and again and again and again and again and ag-

I could say that I’m not starting my channel out of protest, that it’s simply because you don’t deserve my creations until you respect others, and that it's purely to not lose potential monetary gains I would make based on what happened to others. I wish it were as simple as saying that this was the final straw, and I will never create videos for YouTube.

But while all are partially true, I am someone who values the facts. And truth be told, I’m scared.

Not only for what YouTube as a platform will become if mass, unjustified censorship of video becomes the norm, but also because I know what it feels like to have poured effort and passion into something and eventually getting the courage to allow the world to it, only for the rug to be pulled out from underneath you for reasons that are not unfamiliar yet go unexplained. I am scared that the minute I think I’m comfortable with being a YouTuber, I’ll get age-restricted, either wrongly or accidentally, and all I can do is sit and watch as my creations, born out of my want to inspire others like myself, are deemed unwatchable for little to no apparent reason, forever held hostage by the faceless god who gave me the tools I used to form them. So I’m not going to put myself in a position where I could get intensely hurt like others have. Not until that possibility is gone. There are hundreds, if not thousands, of people like me who want to build and hone their craft through YouTube, and the only obstacle in our way is the company itself. Why would we want to join a site that treats its most popular creators unfairly from an outside perspective?

Change, improve, or at least try to quell the disappointment festering in your user base.

Please?

If not for some stranger, at least for RTGame.

Please, YouTube?

Anyone?

I spent so long trying to reach you; YouTube really has made me who I am today. I don’t want to stand idly by while they sabotage their own creators through a lack of meaningful communication when I could have done something, anything.

Please.

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