YouTube to Reduce Views of Borderline Content: CEO

YouTube, which has tried to tamp down on content violating its policies, is now taking aim at content "that comes right up against our policy lines but doesn't cross it," CEO Susan Wojcicki blogged Tuesday. She said YouTube aims to have views of borderline content under 0.5% on the service. She said the violative view rate, which tracks what percentage of views on YouTube comes from content violating its policies, was 0.09% to 0.11% in Q3. She said the rate fell more than 70% between 2017 and Q3 2021. She said in response to creators asking for more details about policy violations, YouTube is hiring to expand its ability to provide such specifics. She said the EU's Digital Services Act "could have implications for online speech" and YouTube is trying to line up support for "a unified digital consumer protection framework ... that still allows YouTube to best serve our users." She said YouTube creator engagement helped as EU member states incorporate the Article 17 copyright directive into local laws. Wojcicki said the number of YouTube channels globally making more than $10,000 is up 40% year over year. She said to boost its short-video feature Shorts, it will expand the capability to remix YouTube content. She said it's in early stages of testing how shopping features that allow viewers to browse and buy products featured in their videos can be integrated into Shorts. She said Shorts views have topped 5 trillion, while YouTube has more than 50 million music and Premium subscribers, including trials.