YouTube Gives Creators a New Way to Avoid Content Strikes: Educational Videos

pcmag.com:

A disciplinary strike on a YouTube account can be a costly roadblock for the platform's most profitable channels, especially if the creator thinks that strike was unjustly applied. So the Google-owned video site is giving creators a new option to avoid being penalized for guideline violations: Watching a video.

"We believe educational efforts are successful at reducing the number of creators who unintentionally violate our policies," YouTube says.

Now, when a creator receives a Community Guideline warning, they'll be given the option of taking an educational training course in exchange for having that warning wiped from their account after 90 days (and removing the video that prompted the warning). Previously, warnings would remain on an account for the lifetime of a channel.

If a creator messes up after that 90-day period, they get a new warning and the option to take a new training course. Those who violate the same policy again within the 90 days receive a strike.

The course option follows a 2019 policy change that created this warning system instead of escalating immediately to a content strike. Warnings are essentially just that, a warning. But a strike freezes the creator's account and prevents them from uploading any new content for a week. That expires after 90 days, but a second strike puts an account into lockdown for two weeks. A third strikes results in channel termination.

With today's update, YouTube also increases the number of warnings a creator can accumulate. A creator can earn a warning for violating one policy, and then earn another for violating a different policy later. In that example, the creator could take two courses to remove both of the warnings. Of course, failing those two policies again