YouTube Strike System Will Now Go Easier On First-Time Offenders

YouTube’s strike system has often come under criticism for how it penalizes creators that receive a strike. It wasn’t always clear in telling creators what they had done wrong and their punishments could range from the proverbial slap on the wrist to more serious action. YouTube has now updated its strike system to clear up some of this and make it more lenient for first-time offenders.

Starting February 25th, all channels will receive a one-time warning the first time that they post content which breaks YouTube’s Community Guidelines. No penalties will be applied except for the removal of that content. YouTube says that this is to make sure that all creators take time to learn about the platform’s Community Guidelines so that they can get back to creating content and engaging with their audience in a way that’s in line with the rules.

It’s also expanding policy resources available in the help center to provide more detail about the kinds of behavior that will result in a strike. This includes detailed examples of the kind of content that commonly breaks rules. The penalty for violating the guidelines is being made the same wherever it happens across YouTube. The guidelines thus cover all content on YouTube, including custom thumbnails, stories, and even links to other websites included in a video’s description or infocard.

Not all strikes had the same penalty on a channel previously but this proved to be confusing for creators so YouTube has now made it so that all Community Guideline strikes will have the same penalty. The first strike will lead to a one-week freeze in the ability to upload new content. The first strikes will expire after 90 days. The second strike in a 90 day period will result in a two week upload ban while the third strike in the same period will result in the channel being terminated.

Adnan Farooqui
Categories: General