YouTube’s "Ad Suitability" Restrictions = It’s Time to Grow Up
Who Do They Think They're Protecting? No One...Never Have, Never Will
Over the past few days, I’ve noticed a handful of my Videos (and Shorts) have been restricted due to “ad suitability.” All but two of them are videos that have been up for days if not weeks. To me, it seems like they’re looking for ways to make up even more problems they can’t/won’t solve.
YouTube’s "ad suitability" restrictions are not only creatively stifling, limiting the reach of videos, but they can be financially limiting too. (At least for creators…my instinct tells me YouTube is still running the same number of ads, but I can’t prove that.)
Despite receiving the dreaded “Ad suitability,” even the heavily-censored version of the Kovert Of Hollywood video has gotten over 10K views,. And made a whopping $2.05. For reference, another video posted around the same time, that’s about the same length, and with roughly the same number of views, has made $32.57 to date.
While appeals are possible, the ones of mine that have been reviewed (which can take “up to seven days” according to the useless YouTube Creator “Support” team) would be laughable if they weren’t so damn annoying:
A buff model with his pants unzipped. I’ve seen more skin in a hamburger commercial or music video. “Sexy maybe, but sexually arousing?” To someone maybe. But not me. He’s a model. He gets paid to look like that.
A bare butt in the background of military shower shot (photographed by a photojournalist if memory serve). Is anyone actually offended by butts?
How is this bad? The guy’s in a towel, on a sidewalk, in 1933, being a goofball. There’s nothing sexual arousing about it. It is what it is.
YouTube seems to think that anything slightly out of the ordinary, a bit edgy, or even artistically daring is unfit for advertisers. But let’s get real—advertisers only care about two things: eyeballs and money. They aren’t losing sleep over their ads running before, during, or after a heavily-censored beefcake montage.
YouTube should be more concerned with its own very real scandals with some of its biggest creators. Not bothering the rest of us with imaginary, bot-created ones.
The current system is a bot-fueled, bureaucratic mess that not only underestimates the intelligence of advertisers but also undercuts the very creators that make YouTube the dynamic platform it is. Or has been.
If you’re a creator who pours your heart and soul into your work, only to have YouTube slap an “Ad suitability” label on it, you know the frustration. The struggle is real.
YouTube thinks it’s “protecting” someone—though who they’re protecting is a mystery.
As for the tired excuse of “protecting the children,” I’m so over that bullshit. YouTube has sit back and profited from more creators than I can count abusing their underage fans, in real life and online. Haven’t seen them address that yet.
If you’re dumb enough to give any kid a smarphone or tablet to use freely, that kid is smart enough to know which sites have the “good” stuff (if they want to watch it).
Kids not only know all about the adult/spicy sites, they more than likely have access to their someone’s OnlyFans and/or JustForFans passwords too. Fact.
“But the kids” has been the go-to defense for every draconian policy for decades, if not centuries. Yet it’s as weak as it is overused. How bout
Today’s children are more media-savvy than ever before, and the real threats they face online are far more complex than a few minutes of censored skin or a montage that dares to celebrate the human form.
I’ve over 50 and by the time I was 10, I knew where my dad stashed all his porn (magazines and VHS tapes). His small collection was well-worn (by me) by the time I was 11. Just saying: Kids are smarter than adults.
Back to the platform: What YouTube needs to protect is its relationship with creators—the lifeblood of the platform—because without them, there’s nothing for advertisers to put their money behind.
The reality is simple: advertisers follow the audience. They’re not running away from content that’s a little risqué, especially when it’s presented with creativity and taste.
YouTube’s obsession with playing it safe is turning the platform into a dull, sanitized space that increasingly alienates the very creators who once made it exciting.
YouTube needs to grow the fuck up. It’s time to ditch these restrictive policies and allow creators to thrive. Because when creators thrive, YouTube thrives—and that’s something advertisers will always support.
Thanks for reading!
Clint
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Well written my friend and I totally agree with everything that you've put here. We have also faced the same challenges. This resulted in a second strike against our channel two days ago. We are following your lead and bringing our content over onto sub stack as well. We've also taken it onto telegram too. There are many other ways to ensure that the visibility of our community and the heritage is not lost. Youtube sadly is censoring so much that I quite agree with you. It's just becoming a platform for repeated content that has very little value or creativity left. I'm not too sure I would go as far to say it will eventually cut off the branch it is sitting on, however, many of our Youtube followers have commented and said they are stopping watching youtube for a number of reasons. One of which is the heavy censorship and just the fact that they can't find the content that they enjoy watching anymore.
I am all for protecting the children and this is an important consideration, yet like yourself, a lot of our content that has been restricted or age limited or even like this one =removed, did not include anything that we could say was showing naughty parts or otherwise. To quote a line from Bruce Lee, it's important to be like water. We will always find a way.😁🎉😎
The level of scrutiny seems to be very selective. Nudist/natusist channels are heavily scrutinized. IIRC, some get dinged even when there's less skin than a bathing suit shows.
Channels that cover the Russian invasion of Ukraine have a litany of things they cannot show. Basically anything that suggest a war is verboten. WTAF? Again, enforcement is very selective. A pro-Ukranian channel located in a third country has extra hoops if a Russian owns it. One channel literally can't say 'missiles'. They have to say 'round metal cylinders that fly through the air'
My understanding is that YT only takes violation appeals seriously if other major pro-ukranian channels complain and their viewers complain en masse.
I don't understand the tech aspects but some creators suspect masses of Russian bots are flagging vids by the thousands. When creators get hold of a person, he seems not to understand what's going on. The fact that a business that exists only online is oblivious to the fact that Russia's involved in a full-scale cyber war with us is mind-boggling.