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But these words can all allegedly trigger demonetization in a video title when nothing else will.
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Not every word on the researchers’ giant list of confirmed demonetized words - over 900 in all - gets flagged in every video that uses it. The group began collaborating on the project in late June and released their results on September 29 after two months of testing.Īfter testing over 15,000 words, the group concluded in both a written report and a video posted to Nerd City’s channel that YouTube had been automatically flagging videos that placed certain keywords in their titles - including a wide range of queer-friendly vocabulary like “gay” and “lesbian.” The group included a data researcher known on YouTube as Sealow, who authored the study’s written results the YouTube Analyzed channel, run by a creator known only as Andrew the YouTuber known as Een, a member of the channel Nerd City and a YouTuber known as Sybreed. It’s not a mere annoyance for creators reliant on YouTube payouts, demonetization means literally losing income. Collecting ad revenue from their videos is the predominant way many YouTube creators make a living off the platform, so demonetization is a big deal, especially when the algorithm operates in what appears to be an unclear or unfair fashion. The group began to investigate YouTube’s demonetization system in response to growing community frustration with the way the site automatically demonetizes videos - meaning those videos won’t feature ads and the creators can’t benefit from YouTube's ad-based revenue system.
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Worse, they say the algorithm penalizes videos featuring LGBTQ-related vocabulary at a disproportionate rate: A full third of titles tested specifically for queer content triggered the bot. Now, a group of YouTubers who spent four months working to reverse-engineer the algorithm have found what they say are alarming results: YouTube’s algorithm, they allege, can flag videos because of apparently random words that appear in video titles. Its algorithmic magic automatically shuts off vital ad revenue to videos it deems un-advertiser-friendly based on a wide array of constantly updated parameters that aren’t always explicable to creators. To many YouTube creators, the video site’s demonetization bot is an unfriendly watchdog.