Tyler Oakley addressed YouTube’s new policies
YouTuber Tyler Oakley (Photo by Ben Gabbe/Getty Images for GLAAD)
Gay YouTuber Tyler Oakley has addressed the issues concerning LGBT content following the introduction of YouTube’s new policies.
The video sharing platform recently announced that some videos which are deemed to be not suitable for work (NSFW) would be made less visible through a “restricted mode”.
Despite the good intentions, a number of YouTuber’s including Oakley and trans blogger Gigi Gorgeous said that their content had been hidden under the mode.
The issue has since been resolved, but now Oakley has pointed out another flaw on the website since they have attempted to become more “advertiser-friendly”.
The type of content that is deemed to be advertiser friendly is often from much more mainstream content creators who have a higher number of subscribers.
Talking at TooFab at Out Web Fest, Oakley stressed that this singles out LGBT creators who often have a smaller audience, but so the platform should be making opportunities and “empowering” these YouTubers.
“The number one thing I would hope for is YouTube realises their power of empowering and the people that are out there realise that it’s not always the people with millions of subscribers that are making an impact.”
He added that those with smaller audiences are just as important, and so advertising should be equally available to them because their work is important for embracing diversity.
“Often it’s the people that have an engaged audience, who feels a connection, and that can be a subscriber base of 100 people, 1000 people. It’s not all about the big numbers, it’s about those connections,” he added.
