What are YouTube's "advertiser-friendly" guidelines? Controversial update explained as streamers call out the no-swearing policy

Numerous streamers and content creators have called out YouTube for their recent "advertiser-friendly" policy changes to their profanity rules, causing many videos, both from the past and present, to be demonetized. Prominent creators such as MoistCr1TiKaL have been highly critical of the changes because they retroactively affect many of his past videos.

Profanity has always been a point of debate in the platform's guidelines, and in the recent past, the platform used to make it a point to punish creators for using more offensive slang, such as "f*ck," in the opening part of a video. However, the update seems to have made some crucial changes, including expanding the pool of demonization-worthy words to almost every swear word.

Content creators such as RTGame have asked fellow YouTubers not to bother asking the platform for help as it opens up their account to further scrutiny, which has the potential to have even more videos flagged for profanity and subsequently age-restricted.

Age-restricting a video is a death sentence for creators who depend on their uploaded content to generate revenue because YouTube limits its reach among potential viewers.

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YouTube's new November guideline on violence, profanity, and swear words bamboozled creators

A significant problem the community has brought up is YouTube's lack of clear and transparent communication about the change in guidelines. In a now-viral video, MoistCr1TiKaL called out the platform, claiming that he was forced to actively search on forums for answers and seek legal help to clear doubts.

The updated policy guidelines on profanity and swear words can only be found on Google's support page under the 'Monetize with the YouTube Partner Program' tab.

Several updates have been announced, including the monetization of adult content. The definitions of violent and harmful acts, including in-game depictions of such things, are liable to get demonetized. An excerpt on 'violence' in the guidelines reads:

"Non-graphic dead bodies presented without any context, game violence directed at a real named person or acts that are manufactured to create shocking experiences (such as brutal mass killing), implied moment of death (such as bombing a building with people inside) may not receive ad revenue."

A key exception is additional scrutiny of gaming violence. This is a new addition to the rules and has many creators worried, given that they play popular shooters and action games that may be flagged as inappropriate content under the new guidelines.

Gaming creators should note that "graphic game violence," including depictions of severe injuries focusing on bodily fluids, beheadings, and dismemberment, will likely be demonetized within the first eight seconds of a video.

Depiction of torture, violence towards minors, protected groups, and even named persons at any point in the game content will be grounds for immediate demonetization.

MoistCr1TiKaL had another bone to pick with YouTube, focusing more on the changes to profanity and what it included as 'foul language.' Here are the key points from the guidelines that creators should note:

"Our approach to profanity is changing. All varieties of profanity are now treated equally, meaning they are not differentiated based on levels of severity (for example, light, moderate, strong, or extreme) and we are not treating ‘hell’ and ‘damn’ as a profanity anymore"

This means more offensive swear words, such as "f*ck," will have equal weightage with other profanity. A video containing too many profanities will likely be demonetized. That said, YouTubers can swear after the first eight seconds:

"Profanities used after the first 8 seconds may receive ad revenue."

Following are the profane words listed in the detailed guidelines that will lead content to get flagged as inappropriate if used repeatedly or in the first few seconds of the video:

1. f-word
2. b*tch
3. sh*t
4. as*hole
5. d*ck

Note that abbreviated profanities such as "WTF" are acceptable, and words such as 'damn' and 'hell' are not considered profane enough to trigger demonization. However, once a video is flagged, there is no way to reverse the decision even if the YouTuber tries to remove the affected parts, as confirmed by this tweet by RTGame.

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While the new guidelines have been touted as "advertiser-friendly," how they have been implemented has wreaked havoc on many YouTubers' channels.

Timestamp 0:44:29

While creators such as Ludwig have defended some updated policy terms, the lack of communication and being struck unknowingly disturbed the content creation ecosystem. Several major creators scrambled to review their content flow and await monetization changes in prior videos.