YouTube Class Action: New Guidelines Cost Content Providers Thousands

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Providers of content for YouTube have been blindsided with enormous financial losses following the sudden implementation of new content guidelines, according to a production company behind one popular YouTube channel.

Plaintiffs James Sweet and Chuck Mere claim that back in March, defendant Google Inc., doing business as YouTube, suddenly began stripping advertisement revenue from content deemed violent, sexually explicit, or otherwise objectionable. As a result, they claim, they have lost thousands of dollars in anticipated ad revenue.

The two individual plaintiffs are bringing this YouTube class action lawsuit on behalf of Zombie Go Boom LLC, their Arkansas-based production company that produces video content for the Zombiegoboom YouTube channel. Sweet and Mere describe Zombiegoboom’s content as “a cross between popular cable TV shows Mythbusters and The Walking Dead.”

YouTube monetizes its content by presenting viewers with advertisements during the video. Content providers like Zombiegoboom earn ad revenue every time an ad is watched or clicked on.

Until recently, YouTube applied this monetization strategy “with an even hand,” placing ads across all types of videos, the plaintiffs say.

But in March 2017, YouTube changed its practices. Following some negative press, advertisers told YouTube they did not want their ads attached to videos that contained “racist and objectionable content,” the plaintiffs say.

YouTube responded by issuing new guidelines that restricted ad placement on videos deemed “sexually explicit, racist, hateful, incendiary or overtly violent,” according to the plaintiffs. The guidelines were applied retroactively to content that had already been posted on YouTube.

To implement the new guidelines on the massive amount of YouTube content, plaintiffs say YouTube deployed a proprietary algorithm designed to identify and demonetize videos that failed to meet the new guidelines.

Sweet and Mere say YouTube content providers had no chance to alter their content to fit the guidelines. YouTube simply began implementing them without notice, they claim. Overnight, thousands of content providers’ videos were demonetized, they say.

To make things worse, the algorithm failed to do what it was supposed to do, according to this YouTube class action lawsuit. The plaintiffs claim the algorithm failed to capture content that violated the new guidelines, and at the same time it tagged for demonetization content that should have been left alone – including content from Zombiegoboom.

As a result of these new guidelines, the plaintiffs say, Zombiegoboom’s revenues have dropped by over 90 percent. They say they used to receive $1,000 to $2,000 per million views of their videos. But due to the new guidelines, they allegedly have lost tens of thousands of dollars in revenues.

They seek to hold YouTube accountable for the allegedly unjustified losses of revenue that they and their proposed Class Members suffered. Their YouTube class action lawsuit raises contractual claims and claims for violation of California’s Unfair Competition Law.

Sweet and Mere propose to bring this YouTube class action lawsuit on behalf of a Class of all U.S. content providers who uploaded content on YouTube since 2006 and whose videos have been available for public viewing from March 1, 2017 to the present.

They are asking the court to award damages, restitution, court costs and attorneys’ fees, as well as appropriate injunctive and declaratory relief.

The plaintiffs are represented by attorneys Todd M. Friedman and Adrian R. Bacon of Law Offices of Todd M. Friedman PC.

The YouTube Content Guidelines Breach of Contract Class Action Lawsuit is James Sweet, et al. v. Google Inc., Case No. 3:17-cv-03953, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.

UPDATE: On March 7, 2018, a California federal judge dismissed a class action lawsuit filed by the owners of the Zombiegoboom YouTube channel who claim Google LLC and/or YouTube LLC put restrictions on the placement of advertisements that did not meet YouTube’s guidelines, causing content providers to suffer significant monetary losses.