The ad exodus from YouTube has died down since its peak in March, but YouTube continues to update its guidelines to reassure advertisers and, in some ways, its creators. In a blog post, YouTube outlined more specific definitions of hate speech and what kinds of incendiary content wouldn't be eligible for monetization.

Three categories are classified as hate speech, with the broadest one being "hateful content." YouTube is defining this as anything that "promotes discrimination or disparages or humiliates an individual or group of people on the basis of the individual’s or group’s race, ethnicity, or ethnic origin, nationality, religion, disability, age, veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity, or other characteristic associated with systematic discrimination or marginalization."

The second category is "inappropriate use of family entertainment characters," which means content showing kid-friendly characters in "violent, sexual, vile, or otherwise inappropriate behavior," no matter if the content is satirical or a parody. The final category is somewhat broad: "incendiary and demeaning content" means that anything "gratuitously" demeaning or shameful toward an individual or group is prohibited.

The updated guidelines are a response to creators asking YouTube to clarify what will and will not be deemed advertiser-friendly. YouTube acknowledges that its systems still aren't perfect, but it says it's doing its best to inform creators while maintaining support for advertisers. YouTube also launched a new course in its Creator Academy that creators can take to learn more about how to make "content appealing for a broad range of advertisers."

"While it’s not possible for us to cover every video scenario, we hope this additional information will provide you with more insight into the types of content that brands have told us they don’t want to advertise against and help you to make more informed content decisions," VP of Product Management Ariel Bardin wrote in the blog post.

Adpocalypse now

Hate speech is what started the ad apocalypse. In March, the UK government was alerted that some of its advertisements appeared on hateful YouTube videos, so it halted its YouTube ad spending. That prompted other companies across the globe to do the same, in some cases pulling ads entirely from the online video platform. YouTube then updated its advertiser tools, giving advertisers more control over the types of content they want their ads to run over.

Since YouTube changed its user and advertising guidelines, many YouTube creators have said their ad revenue has dropped dramatically due to videos being demonetized, made worse by YouTube's lack of communication with creators. YouTube is hoping these details on hate speech will make it more clear to creators what they can and cannot say, and they're certainly a step in the right direction.

However, these new hate speech categories are just a few of the types of content YouTube has declared "not eligible for advertising." Arguably the most nebulous category is "controversial issues or sensitive events," which YouTube defines as "video content that features or focuses on sensitive topics or events including, but not limited to, war, political conflicts, terrorism or extremism, death and tragedies, sexual abuse, even if graphic imagery is not shown... For example, videos about recent tragedies, even if presented for news or documentary purposes, may not be eligible for advertising given the subject matter."

This category has been a pain point for YouTube channels that produce news shows or cover topical events on a regular basis—even if the videos aren't exploitative, YouTube may see them as too controversial for advertisers, making it much harder for those channels to make money. The assumption is that the company will try to allow monetization on some videos like this, but it would likely take peer review of each video (or another tailored process) to determine which videos are so controversial that advertisers might be scared off. Currently, YouTube hasn't provided details on how it plans to sift through news content like this—if it plans to do so at all.