YouTube’s Video Takedown Troubles: 110,000 Creator Appeals, But Most Fail
In just three months, YouTube faced a storm of nearly 110,000 appeals from creators furious over their videos being yanked. But tough luck – fewer than one in four were reinstated.
First-Ever Transparency on Appeals Process
This data comes from YouTube’s new community guidelines report – the first time the giant is lifting the lid on its appeals system. Creators have long griped about unfair video removals and a murky appeal process. Now, at last, YouTube is sharing the cold, hard figures.
The report reveals YouTube pulled over 5 million videos between October and December 2019. Out of those, around 109,000 were challenged by creators. Only 23,000 videos were restored. The bulk of removals were done automatically by YouTube’s algorithms, without human review. Shockingly, over 60% were taken down before getting a single view.
Mass Channel Purge and Content Breakdown
It’s not just videos – YouTube wiped out more than 2 million channels too, with over 80% tagged as spam.
A YouTube spokesperson told The Verge, “Our team is focused on accurately and consistently enforcing our policies. We hold ourselves accountable by monitoring appeals and reinstatements.”
Creators only appealed less than 2% of the videos removed last quarter. YouTube overturned less than half of a percent. The report doesn’t break down how many removals were due to copyright claims, which remains a thorny issue.
Why Videos Got the Chop
- 50%+ for spam or deceptive practices
- 15% for child safety reasons
- 13% for nudity or sexual content
- 2.9% for hateful or abusive material
- 0.6% (just under 33,000 videos) for cyberbullying and harassment
The latter has sparked controversy, especially after YouTube beefed up rules banning creator-on-creator harassment last summer.
The YouTube rep added, “This is just one step toward greater transparency in how we enforce our policies. We plan to expand this report throughout 2020.”
