YouTube 'demonetising' videos on coronavirus: Report

San Francisco, March 5 (IANS) At a time when the world is reeling under the threat of coronavirus, Google-owned YouTube has reportedly started demonetising videos about the deadly virus and creators are not too happy about it."For today's video, I won't be directly commenting on the recent health related news because A, I am not a health care professional, and B, I don't need my video demonetized," said Linus Sebastian, host of Linus Tech Tips, according to a report in The Verge on Wednesday.The popular video sharing platform has demonetised videos about sensitive subjects in the past as well. The company's advertising guidelines state that sensitive topics -- usually a recent event with a "loss of life, typically as a result of a pre-planned malicious attack" -- are normally not suitable for advertising. These videos are allowed to stay on the platform; they just can't make money from YouTube's built-in ad service, the report added.According to the video-sharing platform, coronavirus outbreak is now being considered a sensitive topic. "As such, all videos focused on this topic will be demonetized until further notice," Tom Leung, product officer at YouTube, said in a recent video.
--IANS ksc/na