YouTube is set to stop monetising low-quality children’s content.
The Google-owned video platform has announced it will begin demonetising channels it believes are consistently uploading low-quality content aimed at children from next month.
YouTube already has standards in place when it comes to content on its platform, and looks for “age-appropriate, enriching, engaging, and inspiring content” when allowing adverts on children’s videos.
High-quality content includes videos that promote being a good person, learning, creativity, and diversity, while low-quality content is comprised of videos that are overly promotional in nature, deceptively educational, promote bad behaviours, or use children’s characters in bizarre or questionable ways.
But despite having standards in place already, the new policies will mark the first time that the platform has threatened to remove creators from the YouTube Partnership Program (YPP) if they don’t uphold those standards.
James Beser, director of product management for YouTube’s Kids and Family division, wrote in a blog post this week: “Our ultimate goal is to foster a safe and enriching environment for families while rewarding trusted creators who are making high-quality kids and family content.”
The new policies are part of a larger suite of changes aimed at keeping kids safe that YouTube has instituted in recent months.
Back in February, the platform set up “supervised experiences” that gave parents the ability to better control what content their children are allowed to watch.
