Normally, I would write about this on my other blog, but since I review some YouTube channels on this blog, I will do it here.  Recently, YouTube made come changes that have some YouTubers upset.  The changes impact their current and future content.

Cleaning Up YouTube

Recently, there have been efforts to clean up YouTube.  A number of people had fake accounts and many channels had fake subscriber counts.  After what was called the “YouTube purge”, many channels lost a number of subscribers.  Also, there have been a number of copyright strikers against people for music that belongs to other people.  As a result, some videos have been taken down as companies look to protect their intellectual properties.  Now, there are new guidelines about what is considered “advertiser friendly” content.  This means that videos that feature sexual content or heavy use of profanity may not be able to make money going forward.

Possible Reasons For the Changes

It has been speculated that some of the changes for music are being done so Google can build a better relationship with music companies.  Record labels are not making the money they used to, and are not needed as much as they used to be.  People feel that Google is hoping that this move will help them to have a better relationship with these companies in the future.  As far as the content changes,  many people have made money off of advertisers who may or may not agree with their content.  Also, YouTube is shown in most countries, some of which do not allow sexual content to be shown on the internet in their country.  By blocking ads on future videos that contain adult content, it will limit the amount of work YouTube will have to do to monitor different channels.

Why Some Are Upset

Some have made a good living off of adult geared comedy and conversations on YouTube.  The feeling that some YouTubers have is that it is their channel, and they should be able to put up whatever they want. Many feel that this is a violation of free speech.  Others have commented that they feel that it will be too difficult for them to make videos without cursing or being sexual.  Some who feel they would have a hard time making the change to cleaner content have openly contemplated not doing YouTube anymore so that they are free to do what they want, however they want to do it.

The Impact on Korean Learning Channels

For the most part, this will have little to no impact on channels that teach Korean language and culture.  They already have PG or G rated content on their channels.  Because of this, it will probably make some advertisers happy to who ads on their channels.  It may also make their channels a safe haven for families who do not like what they are seeing on television these days.

Only time will tell what the true impact of these changes will be.  Maybe we will soon find out all the details of what has happened to make these changes come about.  But what is your thoughts on the changes that are coming to YouTube?  Do you welcome the changes, or do you feel that YouTube is being too restrictive?  Will these changes impact your favorite YouTube channels or cause you to stop watching YouTube?  Let me know in the comment section below.