YouTube has updated its community guideline strike system in the hopes of making it simpler for content creators. This is the first time in nearly a decade that YouTube has updated it's community guideline strike rules.
YouTube have been working really hard to try and operate in a more transparent way and help creators understand what is and isn't allowed on the platform. YouTube have said "We’ve worked with creators to understand what’s working and what’s not, and you told us that consistent enforcement, clear policies, and transparency about the impact of a strike are most important."
The biggest change that YouTube is making is a new warning strike that they will start issuing on February 25th. After a channel’s first community guideline violation, YouTube will issue a “one-time warning” with no strike, but they will still be removing the offending content. This is a great opportunity for creators to educate themselves on the policies. “This is to make sure everyone takes the time to learn about our Community Guidelines,” YouTube says.
After you have received your one-time warning, YouTube’s existing three-strike system will begin to take effect. As before, strikes come with penalties, but they’ll reset if a channel doesn’t break the rules for 90 days. However, the new warning strike is a one-time deal, and it won’t reset.
YouTube has also updated the penalties that are received for community guideline strikes in an effort to make the system better for creators. YouTube says "Based on your feedback, all Community Guidelines strikes will have the same penalty." These are the new strikes that are issued:
First strike: Your first strike will result in a one-week temporary freeze on the ability to upload any new content to YouTube. If your account has been restricted from live streaming, you are prohibited from using another channel to live stream on YouTube. This applies for as long as the restriction remains active on your account. Violation of this restriction is considered circumvention under our Terms of Service and may result in termination of your account.
Second strike: If your account receives 2 Community Guidelines strikes within a three-month period, you won’t be able to post new content to YouTube for 2 weeks. If there are no further issues, full privileges will be restored automatically after the 2 week period. Each strike will remain on your account and expire separately three months after it was issued.
Note: If your strike is related to violation of our Thumbnail policy, you’ll lose custom Thumbnail privileges for up to 30 days
Third strike: If your account receives 3 Community Guidelines strikes within a three-month period, your account will be terminated.
YouTube is sticking with the three strike system because they believe it works! They expressed that 98% of the platforms users never actually receive a community guideline strike and out of the ones that do receive a strike 94% never get a second one.
YouTube are also adding mobile and on-site notifications for channel owners to help give creators a better idea of when or why they were banned. We have attached a video below from YouTube's creator academy which aims to help answer your questions regarding this news system!
YouTube are also working on expanding their policy resources which aim to help creators discover what is and isn't allowed on YouTube. This also includes examples of some of the types of content that breaks the rules on YouTube!
We are very excited about this new system and we can't wait to educate our content creators on how to stay safe and ensure your channel doesn't receive any of these strikes.
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