YouTube policies:
Evolving business model has angered some of its users.
Nasim Aghdam felt that she was not getting her due from YouTube. For eight years, the 39-year-old posted hundreds of YouTube videos, garnering roughly 30,000 subscribers and more than 9 million views. She was a small part of YouTube’s success story — the army of independent creators who catapulted it to the top of the video heap.
And then on Tuesday, Aghdam entered YouTube’s San Bruno headquarters with a gun, injuring three employees and killing herself.
“There is no equal growth opportunity on YouTube or any other video sharing site, your channel will grow if they want to!” Aghdam said on a website. “YouTube filtered my channels to keep them from getting views!”
Aghdam’s terrible act has drawn attention to growing frustration with YouTube’s business model and policies.
Founded in 2005 and bought by Google a year later, YouTube enabled anyone to upload video anytime and anywhere. Minor celebrities emerged, and eventually some made a living off the advertising dollars Google split with them.
But over time, as the company began to favor professionally produced videos with less risque content, some video creators saw their traffic and revenue drop, often abruptly.
“While I can never excuse Nasim’s actions, I think they are deplorable ... I do know where that anger comes from,” said Jamaal Finkley, founder of BlackTree Media, which posts interviews with black celebrities and other content. “People that started to make their livelihood on YouTube have seen it evaporate with the quickness of an algorithm switch.”
ChannelMeter, a San Francisco company which analyzes YouTube channels, said Aghdam appeared to have recently shifted to using controversial titles and other sensational techniques to boost her views — possibly in response to algorithmic shifts which had caused her traffic to drop.
“She’s recognized that YouTube has become our new National Enquirer,” said Eugene Lee, CEO of ChannelMeter.
“I don’t think this is YouTube’s fault,” Lee said, but suggested YouTube could be more transparent with creators on changes that could affect their revenue.
YouTube did not respond to a request for comment.
This year, YouTube changed its rules for creators seeking to make money through ads, requiring them to have 4,000 hours of video watch time over 12 months and at least 1,000 subscribers. Previously the bar for earning money was at least 10,000 video views. Once a creator qualifies, YouTube generally keeps 45 percent of the ad revenue,
“YouTube is utterly unresponsive about why something’s been blocked.” Matt Baume, LGBTQ culture video maker
analysts said.
The change came after a backlash last year, when advertisers complained that their ads were included in videos featuring hate speech.
“That’s part of the tension (for YouTube) — to be all things to all people,” said Paul Verna, a principal analyst with research firm eMarketer. “They are trying to evolve into something different, and that was their way of making that transition . ... I know it alienated a lot of people.”
YouTube also cracked down last year on videos it deemed violent, angering some creators who, for example, post videos depicting made-up characters with weaponry.
Zombie Go Boom, an Arkansas company, said in a lawsuit filed in San Francisco in July that it lost 90 percent of its revenue due to YouTube’s changes. It’s gotten “to the point where they can no longer afford to stay in business, due to affirmative acts taken by YouTube, with reckless disregard of the content providers that have made it a success to the public.”
But Google said in court documents that under the terms of its contract, it is not under any obligation to place ads on videos and that Zombie Go Boom was free to post its content elsewhere. It also noted that it doesn’t charge for hosting videos. A judge agreed with Google and dismissed the case in March. Zombie Go Boom is now trying to make money by selling weapons and props online.
For YouTube, any policy change is an intricate balancing act. While Google doesn’t break out YouTube’s financials, YouTube is now a big business with U.S. ad revenues forecast at more than $4 billion this year, according to eMarketer.
Last year, creators posting videos for the LGBT community noticed that some of their work was being blocked for users in “restricted mode.” That mode, often used by libraries and schools, is supposed to filter out content inappropriate for viewing in shared public spaces. And yet it reportedly blocked videos of samesex marriages as well as a cat sitting next to a rainbow flag.
After a flurry of news stories about the issue, YouTube said it would fix the problem. But Matt Baume, who hosts a weekly YouTube update of LGBT news, said he still finds some of his videos hidden by restricted mode. He also sometimes receives a notice that a video he’s trying to post isn’t advertiser-friendly.
“The response we got could be compared to ‘thoughts and prayers,’ ” Baume said. “If anything has changed, I haven’t seen it.”
One of his blocked videos, he said, concerned a Mississippi town denying a permit for a gay pride parade. Another involved drag queens playing Dungeons & Dragons.
“It’s completely impossible to say what the cause is,” Baume said. “YouTube is utterly unresponsive about why something’s been blocked.”
A writer and podcast producer, Baume doesn’t depend on YouTube to make a living. Instead, he’s concerned that his videos can’t be seen by LGBT people living in places that aren’t welcoming to them.
“Marginalized voices who are disadvantaged when it comes to connecting with each other depend on platforms like YouTube to avoid the censorship they experience in their lives,” he said.