“YouTubers are unionizing, and the site has 24 days to respond,” is a headline guaranteed to make people sit up and pay attention. That’s how Engadget reported the news that a group called The YouTubers Union has teamed up with German metalworkers’ trade-union IG Metall to launch a formal campaign. A formal campaign to what? “To get more fairness and transparency for all YouTube Creators,” according to the website that’s been launched for FairTube.
This is very much about pressuring YouTube to change its policies towards creators whose videos and/or channels have been ‘demonetised’ on the service. FairTube wants YouTube to publish more information about how it reaches those decisions; give clear explanations in individual cases; provide a “human contact person who is qualified and authorized to explain decisions that have negative consequences for YouTubers (and fix them if they are mistaken)”; and create an independent mediation board and a YouTuber Advisory Board, to (respectively) tackle disputes and get YouTubers involved in key decisions.
FairTube has asked YouTube to enter negotiations with it by 23 August. And if not? Well, we’ll find out what happens in *checks calendar* just over 24 days time…
Tools: platforms to help you reach new audiences
Tools: Kaiber
In the year or so since its launch, AI startup Kaiber has been making waves,…