How To Donate to BLM with No Money encouraged viewers to repeatedly watch adverts on the video, with money generated from AdSense being donated to the cause.
The takedown from YouTube came a day after a Help article was published on donating AdSense revenue, saying that “this encouragement in video titles, descriptions, and in the video content itself” is not allowed on the platform.
“Some creators have offered to donate the AdSense revenue earned from their videos as a way to raise funds for people who don’t have money to make a donation.
“While you can take any ad revenue you earn from organic traffic and donate it, some of these videos encourage people to repeatedly watch the video for ad views and/or repeatedly click on the ads in the video, which artificially drives up the video’s watch time and ad metrics – this is against YouTube’s Policies.
“If your video encourages this behavior, it will be removed from YouTube, you won’t be paid for the views and clicks, and advertisers will not be charged,” it reads.
We've seen a lot of questions about fundraising on YouTube to support Black Lives Matter & racial justice initiatives.
We made a guide to help w/ important fundraising info for creators (esp. if you’re pledging to donate Adsense revenue). Read it here → https://t.co/ugy7OCprP7
— TeamYouTube (@TeamYouTube) June 11, 2020
The guidance instead advises creators to use the Donate feature if they’re eligible, or link to external websites through end screens on a video.
In an update shared on Twitter, Zoe thanked people for the “massive support” on the project and confirmed that the video was found to be in breach of monetisation guidelines.
“However, because YouTube so believed in the essence of the project, they have committed to making a donation equal to what all of you have raised in the name of the project,” she added.
UPDATE FIVE – BLACK LIVES MATTER FUNDRAISER (probably the most important update) pic.twitter.com/j2j9eJuFrd
— ZOE AMIRA (@zoeamira) June 10, 2020
The pledge comes as the initial sum generated will be returned to advertisers due to the video violating the guidelines.
Speaking to TubeFilter, YouTube said that it would double the amount Zoe would have made and confirmed that creators involved in AdSense fundraisers would not receive Community Guidelines strikes or face channel deletion.
While the total figure and organisations benefitting from the project are yet to be announced, a previous post from Zoe on 8 June revealed that the estimated revenue from the video was over $42,000, with 6.7 million views with ads displayed.
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