A new YouTube policy aims to give creators a second chance.
Starting today, YouTube content creators who run afoul of the site’s policies and receive a warning can take a training course to have that warning lifted.
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Before today, a violation would result in that video being taken down and a warning issued. That warning would stick around for life. A future violation would result in a strike, which would limit that person’s ability to post content. If a user gets three strikes within 90 days, their channel could be deleted entirely.
Under the new policy, the video with the violation would still be removed, but the creator can have the warning taken off their account by taking a class to learn why what they did was wrong and how to prevent it from happening again. They would also have to not make that same violation for 90 days. Violating the same guideline more than 90 days later will have the same result — a warning and an option to take a course.
In short, it makes it easier for creators to avoid strikes.
What type of content can cause a warning or a strike? The YouTube Community Guidelines page lists several, including impersonation, suicide or self-harm, harassment, hate speech, or sexual content and nudity.
YouTube announced the change in a post titled “An update to Community Guidelines warnings.”
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The warning system, rolled out in 2019, seems to have been mostly efficient on its own. “We started giving a one-time warning for a first policy violation in 2019, which gave creators the chance to review what went wrong before facing more penalties.” YouTube said. “Now more than 80% of creators who receive a warning never violate our policies again.”
But, the company added, some creators have expressed confusion over content guidelines. And it wants to make sure mistakes don’t have long-term ramifications. “We also know receiving a strike can be disruptive to a creator’s posting schedule, and for the creators building businesses through our YouTube Partner Program, receiving an unintentional strike is not only frustrating, but can financially impact their bottom line,” the post explained.
