A spokeswoman for Nestlé said Wednesday in an email that the company has paused all advertising on YouTube due concerns that comments on the platform are being used to exploit minors. Disney joined Nestlé according to sources. Also, Fortnite developers Epic Games and German packaged food company Dr. August Oetker KG have pulled their ad spending.
YouTube’s response
YouTube says they took immediate actions after the controversy was known, having deleted over 400 channels for hosting pedophilic comments.
“Any content — including comments — that endangers minors is abhorrent and we have clear policies prohibiting this on YouTube. We took immediate action by deleting accounts and channels, reporting illegal activity to authorities and disabling violative comments,” a spokeswoman for YouTube said in an email.
Plus, YouTube could also ask creators to be on top of their comments and moderate effectively, stating “we can hold monetizing channel owners to a higher standard.”
Everyone’s worried another adpocalypse is coming
This high-profile drop in ad revenue has made many creators worried we’re heading for another
“I’m not reporting the story because it negatively affects the whole YouTube community,” Daniel “Keemstar” Keem, the host of popular show, DramaAlert, tweeted. “We don’t need another adpocalypse. What I have done behind the scenes though is reached out to my YouTube contacts showing them the video and my team is showing them content to take down. This is not just about me. This is about all my friends big and small creators. I’m not reporting something that’s going to affect their livelihoods.”
YouTube took similar actions to deal with past controversies, which resulted in a massive drop in revenue for creators. Even creators not involved in the controversy were affected. YouTube has held its tongue about how this will effect creators’ monetization right now. Hopefully, another
