I’ve noticed something recently on YouTube.
Some videos are bleeping out words that really aren’t offensive.
On a “Did you know” video the kept bleeping out the word Nazi. But the movie they were talking about was about Nazis.
Then there was a video about bar bets and tricks. They bleeped out the word “beer”. As in “place the coins on the top of the BLEEP bottle”.
WTH is this all about?
Demonetization. I’ve seen some Youtubers say that “Nazi” and a few other words can get their videos demonetized.
That’s ridiculous, though. Would they bleep out the word on a Shindlers List clip?
And whats so horrible about the word beer? YT is loaded with beer commercial videos!
And what about the foul language on comedy videos?
I just find those bleeps obnoxious as hell.
Is that what was behind a clip I saw the other day from Jimmy Kimmel? I think he called it “Pointless video censorship of the week,” as if it were a regular feature. After watching some of it, I thought it was something his staff put together and added the bleeps to be funny, but it wasn’t funny and I stopped watching.
“Unnecessary Censorship.” Sometimes those are funny, and sometimes they aren’t.
I’d assume there are some autobot censors in play, recently I saw a clip where ‘nigga’ got through, but ‘racist’ got bleeped, go figure.
No, but that’s because they couldn’t monetize a copyrighted clip anyway.
YouTube very much does go through their captions and look for certain words in order to categorize videos in their ad system. And thus saying certain words (especially near the beginning of the video) can get you demonetized. Sometimes it’s offensive words. Sometimes it’s just that it will get you a “mature” rating, which means most ads won’t run on your content.
Granted, they could avoid beeping it. I’ve heard plenty of variations. There’s the Yoshi sound effect that Overly Sarcastic Productions (a history/mythology/trope channel) uses, which I quite like. But you can also just go with the classic silence.
It’s ridiculous, but it’s how it works. And all because of naked capitalism. The advertisers don’t want to have their ads run on offensive content, as it hurts their brand. And most don’t want to advertise on videos that have been restricted to adults.
The whole advertising system works on an auction principle, where the provider who pays YouTube the most gets the spot. The whole system is based around it.
It’s actually one sort of regulation I could see actually working: make it about regulating (interstate) commerce, not speech.
From what I understand the various “inoffensive” words would get you demonitized on YouTube either currently in the past (in terms of I’ve actually watched YouTube videos where the creator had to reupload their own video and remove said word, some of these words were basically knee jerk reactions in the aftermath of events)
It’s probably this. YT has a HUGE platform and little human moderation. So they just told the bots to bleep it all since bots can’t read for comprehension or context.
You’ll see the same thing in the closed captioning on some networks. I’ve seen a sound effect rendered as “gun xxxxing” because “cock” got auto censored, and the expression “xxxx and span” because “spic” is a racial slur in some contexts.
It’s Redlettermedia that I have seen specifically discuss the fact they avoid saying “Nazi” and so forth because they really do not want their videos to lose monetization. They have watched a few movies where Nazis are in them or Hitler dies or whatever, but they seem to have been OK so far.
I think it can be that once your video is demonetized, you can get it back to earning again, but would have missed key early views that come in.
Here are a couple of de-monetization issues I’ve noticed when watching youtube videos:
Shawn Woods of Mousetrap Monday has had to change the way he sets up and films his traps in action because to show an actual mouse getting snapped in a trap or drowned in a bucket will get him de-monetized. He has actually started to show mice falling harmlessly into a mouse-quarium set up with toys and food to placate youtube. My husband logically asks the question, “Why does Shawn have to conceal the deaths of rodents yet the Squirrel Hunter (another channel I watch) can shoot dozens of squirrels in the head and that gets shown?” I have no answer for him.
Another channel I watch about traveling foodies in Japan says that if they film a video of them walking past a store while music is playing from the storefront, youtube will recognize the tune and de-monetize that video for music copyright infringement. They’ve learned to start talking loudly if they walk past music to conceal the tune.
I could have gone my whole life not knowing that people enjoy watching youtube videos of people killing mice or squirrels (or anything else).
BigCliveDotCom, when taking a vape pen to bits, won’t use the word ‘vape’ at all during his videos and for the same reason, because the video will be demonetized. He always seems to catch himself and replace it with ‘vapor producing product’ or something along those lines.
No those are faked.
I’d love to know you think this happens?
AFAIK;
YouTube’s bots don’t bleep words from videos on the fly while you are watching.
YouTube doesn’t download your videos, edit them so they don’t violate “Community Standards”, and re-upload them for you.
AIUI if your video actually violates “Community Standards” it gets taken down and your account gets a strike.
YouTubers are self-editing entirely for fear of the demonetization bot.
The contrary is also true. Some police officers have played copyrighted music in order to ensure that videos of their conduct won’t be posted due to copyright concerns.
Given what I know about Taylor Swift (mostly learned in the last 30 seconds on wiki), it wouldn’t surprise me if, upon finding out a cop was using her music to do this, she’d let it slide, especially if she felt the cop was doing it specifically to hide their own crimes. I know it would require more legwork than the average person is willing to do in order to get her permission, but it could be an option. I have to think if I was a cop and wanted to beat someone up and use this tactic to hide it, I’d go with someone like Ted Nugent or Kid Rock. If they’re gonna play Taylor Swift, why not lean all the way into it and play some Rage Against The Machine/Killing In The Name.
Huh? What did you read in Wikipedia that would cause you to believe Swift supports police violence?
Swift has supported the March for Our Lives movement and gun control reform in the U.S, and is a vocal critic of white supremacy, racism, and police brutality in the country. Following the murders of African-American men Ahmaud Arbery and George Floyd she donated to the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund and the Black Lives Matter movement. After then-president Donald Trump posted a controversial tweet on the unrest in Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Swift accused him of promoting white supremacy and racism in his term. She called for the removal of Confederate monuments of “racist historical figures” in Tennessee, and advocated for Juneteenth to become a national holiday.