YouTube CEO issues public apology for verification changes

David Matthews

David Matthews

Posts: 444   +88
Staff member
Why it matters: YouTube's new verification system attempted to ensure that large channels were safe from impersonation but had the unintended consequence of removing other popular channels. YouTube's CEO issued an apology with a promise to address concerns but it's unknown how the company plans on mitigating yet another YouTube controversy.

Earlier this week, YouTube changed the way it verified channels. However, this had the consequence of revoking verification for many big YouTubers who depend on that verification to earn a living. It seems that YouTube may be going back on that decision as CEO Susan Wojcicki issued a public apology on Twitter:

The changes were meant to ensure that only channels that truly had a need for differentiation were verified. While the company knew that some big creators would be affected, they believed the ends justified the means in order to delegitimize impersonation accounts. These accounts could easily get over 100,000 subscribers which is the former threshold to be considered for verification.

One of those affected was popular video game reviewer Jeremy Penter aka ACG. He has over 600,000 subscribers and was notified that his channel would be unverified. In a video to his subscribers, he talked about the potential consequences of being unverified, chief of which was losing access to review copies of games. For a video game reviewer, being able to get access to early copies of games for review is a major driver of content and revenue.

Wojcicki didn't go into detail about what changes YouTube was going to make but it's probably no surprise that YouTube went in this direction in the first place. Twitter temporarily suspended its verification process in late 2017 after backlash over white supremacist accounts being verified. Some users took that to mean Twitter's endorsement or legitimizing their views. Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey revealed on a Periscope livestream that the company wants all users to be verified.

Currently, YouTubers who have been told their channels would be unverified are able to appeal the decision. YouTube said it will try to manually review every appeal before the new policy is in place next month. However, with this new apology from the CEO, things may change.

Some in YouTube community have felt that the video platform is attempting to become more mainstream while slowly getting away from the grassroots nature of the platform. Hollywood celebrities and media personalities seem to get more billing on the front page than YouTubers who have built their channels from scratch. This was aptly demonstrated by the YouTube Rewind 2018 video that was almost universally panned for including celebrities who had no real affiliation with YouTube such as Will Smith, John Oliver, and Trevor Noah. Ironically, it's the most disliked YouTube video on the entire site.

It's unknown how this whole verification scenario will play out. YouTube has to balance the needs of its creators while making the platform more attractive for advertisers. Until then, the company continues lose the respect of the community it built.

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/81998-youtube-ceo-issues-public-apology-verification-changes.html

 
Evernessince said:
This could have been avoided had they simply gave people months in advance notice and worked with those who were going to loose verification. Communication makes all the difference.
Click to expand...
They kinda did just that. 1 month notice, and they gave a direct link to appeal.

But that doesn't matter now. I saw an update on the situation where all creators that are verified will now keep it (assuming they're legit). Probably a few other changes too, but that's the big one.
 
m4a4 said:
They kinda did just that. 1 month notice, and they gave a direct link to appeal.

But that doesn't matter now. I saw an update on the situation where all creators that are verified will now keep it (assuming they're legit). Probably a few other changes too, but that's the big one.
Click to expand...

eBay discloses changes a half year in advance to sellers. If Google is only planning 1 month in advance then I feel sorry for the creators on that platform. I most certainly don't see google going out of it's way to help people loosing verification either. It's "You got 1 month kid".
 
If you are popular, then YouTube should drop you. YouTube is for unpopular people...

Popular people have other media outlets..
 
There are a lot of quality YouTubers. Steve(and that other guy on his channel) who gives us a great deal of TechSpots free bench marking content. Among their many other contributions. I appreciate and support quality creators with everything but money ^^ /jokes. If they jump ship to a new streaming platform, YT might become the new MySpace. YT has been an amazing service, they need to stop alienating content creators.

I came to the quality YT game really late, but I've learned a lot from it. It's more then funny videos and free music.
 
Last edited:
I know this is a topic about the verification issue, and it's infuriating to creators and those who were popular enough, but they are putting ads left and right and now lately I've been hit with constant "subscribe to Youtube Premium" pop-ups, aren't they getting enough hits and money to keep going without male-cow-feces tactics to get you to subscribe??
 
m4a4 said:
Evernessince said:
This could have been avoided had they simply gave people months in advance notice and worked with those who were going to loose verification. Communication makes all the difference.
Click to expand...
They kinda did just that. 1 month notice, and they gave a direct link to appeal.

But that doesn't matter now. I saw an update on the situation where all creators that are verified will now keep it (assuming they're legit). Probably a few other changes too, but that's the big one.
Click to expand...
I'm pretty sure they gave 0 months notice, with a right to appeal. I have seen a few youtubers showing the email they got, where they were shocked that their channel had become unverified and therefore demonetised with immediate effect.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Evernessince
Capaill said:
I'm pretty sure they gave 0 months notice, with a right to appeal. I have seen a few youtubers showing the email they got, where they were shocked that their channel had become unverified and therefore demonetised with immediate effect.
Click to expand...

That's worse then I thought. I did a little digging and it appears this isn't the only communication issue YouTube has

https://www.digitalinformationworld...demonetized-for-months-thanks-to-youtube.html

It appears the system has had issues for some time.
 
Capaill said:
I'm pretty sure they gave 0 months notice, with a right to appeal. I have seen a few youtubers showing the email they got, where they were shocked that their channel had become unverified and therefore demonetised with immediate effect.
Click to expand...
No one got unverified upon receiving the email, as the changes were supposed to happen next month (hence the 1 month).
And why would they get demonetized immediately when they weren't unverified immediately?

BUT again, it's no longer getting taken away from verified creators. Don't know why you (incorrectly) tried to correct me.
 
m4a4 said:
No one got unverified upon receiving the email, as the changes were supposed to happen next month (hence the 1 month).
And why would they get demonetized immediately when they weren't unverified immediately?

BUT again, it's no longer getting taken away from verified creators. Don't know why you (incorrectly) tried to correct me.
Click to expand...
Ok, you're right. Sorry about that. I did some more digging:
https://reclaimthenet.org/youtube-remove-verification-badges/
But it was initially thought by some youtubers that the removal of verification had immediate effect. YouTube clarified that it would not take effect until October.
 
  • Like
Reactions: m4a4
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

A
Discord begins experimenting with face scanning for age verification
Replies
10
Views
118
Cocojambo13
Cocojambo13
zohaibahd
Epic sues Fortnite cheater, forces public apology and financial penalty
Replies
7
Views
171
TommyBoyFL
T
A
YouTube streams go blurry: users complain of major quality issues this past week
Replies
5
Views
130
MakeMSGreatAgain
M

Latest posts

Back