Many popular YouTubers, some with millions of subscribers, and others who have been using the site for over 14 years, have been told by YouTube that their verification badge will be removed in late October as part of a controversial new verification process.
Previously, YouTube creators could apply for channel verification after they hit 100,000 subscribers. Now YouTube is saying that from late October it will “prioritize verifying prominent channels that have a clear need for proof of authenticity.” YouTube creators will no longer be able to request verification and, instead, YouTube will decide which channels it wants to verify.
YouTube is also changing the appearance of the verification badge from a checkmark to a grayed out background because “the checkmark has been displayed inconsistently,” according to the tech giant.
Within minutes of YouTube announcing this change to the verification process, multiple YouTubers started to received advance notices telling them that they’re no longer eligible for verification. YouTube has clarified that this is an advanced notice and YouTube creators can appeal. However, if the appeal is unsuccessful, they will lose their verification.
This is one of many decisions over the last 30 days which signal that YouTube is appearing to turn its back on the independent creator community. YouTube recently announced that creators who are popular with kids are likely to face a “significant business impact” and lose ads, comments, and notifications going forward as a result of changes it’s making.
One day before making this announcement, YouTube released stats showing that it’s now removing over 100,000 videos per quarter for “hate speech” under a policy that has resulted in many history channels, independent journalists, and other innocuous creators being demonetized or removed from the platform.
And one week before these announcements, YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki said that YouTube will continue to push what it deems to be “authoritative voices” while suppressing content that “brushes right up against” but doesn’t break any of the site’s rules.
Satirical comedic vlogger MacDoesIt, who has more than 1.9 million subscribers, is no longer eligible for verification under these new rules, despite YouTube often using his photos on the official YouTube Instagram account.
Regardless of YouTube’s reasoning for this change, it appears that being a large YouTube creator and even being used in YouTube’s own promotional materials is no longer enough to guarantee verification from late October.
ASMR channel Life with Mak is yet another large channel (over 1.6 million subscribers) that doesn’t meet YouTube’s verification criteria.
https://twitter.com/lifewithmak2005/status/1174749699221274624
Animated video creator ilymation, who has over 1.31 million subscribers, has also failed to meet YouTube’s new verification criteria. She says “there are literally copycat channels of me and other channels that take my videos and reupload them and make money but I guess I don’t need that verification that I am who I am.”
https://twitter.com/illymation/status/1174744673472004096
YouTuber Jaackmate also doesn’t currently qualify for verification under the new rules, despite having over 1 million subscribers and creating YouTube content for over 11 years.
https://twitter.com/jaack/status/1174735765533839360
Video games channel Shesez is another creator who is no longer eligible for verification, even though he has more than 621,000 subscribers and was recently verified by Twitter.
Makeup artist ThatGirlShaeXo has also lost her verification eligibility under the new system. She has been creating YouTube content for over nine years and has over 397,000 subscribers on her YouTube channel.
Mike Falzone, a comedian who has been uploading to YouTube for 14 years and has over 164,000 subscribers, was also told that he failed to meet the new criteria for YouTube verification.
YouTube claims that it’s making the change because viewers and creators found the verification badge confusing.
https://twitter.com/teamyoutube/status/1174737167664287744
However, many people are skeptical of these claims and doubt that this supposed “confusion” came from the YouTube community.
Many people are seeing this as yet another decision by YouTube that hurts the independent creators who helped grow the site in favor of legacy media outlets and mainstream celebrities.
