 Does YouTube allow conspiracy videos on the platform? We've done the research to give you the answer so that you can keep your channel safe and monetized. Hello and welcome to Freedom Quick Tips where we dig every lead, track down every source to bring you the truth on whether conspiracy theory videos on YouTube are being held down by the man. Man. First, what is conspiracy theory? Dictionary.com defines it as a theory that rejects a standard explanation for an event and instead credits a covered group or organization with carrying out a secret plot. While lexico.com says it's a belief that some covered but influential organization is responsible for an unexplained event. Some famous examples of conspiracy theories are the hollow earth theory which, as the name implies, claims that the earth is hollow and that an advanced civilization resides within. The theory that Apollo 11 moon landing was faked and done on a sound stage directed by Stanley Kubrick and that an extraterrestrial spacecraft crashed in the United States in Roswell, New Mexico and was subsequently covered up by the US government. There is no shortage of conspiracy theories on the internet, just the cursory search will reveal articles upon articles, video upon videos of your favorite flavor of conspiracy, a seemingly unending torrent of information, a lot of which resides on YouTube but if this is the case that there are numerous such videos on the platform, how is it that there are still channels getting demonetized or terminated? In early August of 2018, Alex Jones, a popular American radio show host and conspiracy theorist, had his channel of 2 million subscribers terminated by YouTube. For violating community guidelines after getting banned by Facebook and Apple, in a similar fashion, former football player and British conspiracy theorist David Ick had his 900,000 subscriber YouTube channel terminated after also being booted out of Facebook days earlier. When asked, YouTube provided this statement. YouTube has clear policies prohibiting any content that disputes the existence and transmission of COVID-19. As described by the WHO and the NHS, due to continued violation of these policies, we have terminated David Ick's YouTube channel. So what did both Alex Jones and David Ick do wrong? YouTube doesn't actually have any policy-specific conspiracy theory videos and while the phrase conspiracy theory conjures up images of wild-eyed tinfoil hat-wearing recluses, it's important to point out that not all conspiracy theories have been proven wrong. Some, such as the MKUltra, where the CIA was accused of conducting mind control experiments on unsuspecting American citizens, have actually been proven to be real. So if you're going to be making conspiracy theory videos on YouTube, what then should you keep in mind? First, be sure that you're mindful of YouTube's community guidelines, specifically the hate speech policy. You can check out our video about the subject in the descriptions below, but in a nutshell, YouTube does not allow content that promotes violence or hate against individuals or groups based on these following attributes. Number one is age. Number two is caste, disability, ethnicity, gender identity, and expression. Nationality, race, immigration status, religion, sex, gender, sexual orientation, victims of a major violent event and their kin, veteran status. Some examples of hate speech are, I'm glad this violent event happened, they get what they deserved, referring to persons with noted attributes. Persons with noted attributes are dogs, or persons with noted attributes are like animals. Persons with noted attributes is scum of the earth. Group with any of the noted attributes has an agenda to run the world and get rid of us. All the so called victims of this violent event are actors. No one was hurt and this is just a false flag. Another thing to keep in mind is the advertiser friendly content guidelines. We won't get too much into it now, but take note of the harmful or dangerous acts section. The hateful content section which echoes the hate speech policy, incendiary and demeaning, and controversial issues and sensitive events. In essence, don't post content that promotes or advocates for harmful health or medical claims or practices like implying that serious medical conditions do not exist or are an elaborate hoax or anti-vaccination or AIDS denialist movements. Insights hatred against, promote discrimination, disparages or humiliates an individual or group of people based on the attributes we discussed in the hate speech policy. Focus on shaming or insulting an individual or group or single out someone for abuse or harassment, malicious personal attacks, slander or defamation. Covers a relatively recent, unforeseen event in which there has been a loss of life, typically but not solely as a result of a pre-planned malicious attack. These events can cause a mournful response from the public or an extreme or visceral reaction. Lastly, take note as well that YouTube's term of service states that YouTube can either remove your videos or terminate your channel if they believe that your content may cause harm to YouTube, our users or third parties. Again, at the risk of sounding like a broken record, please keep those things in mind when uploading your conspiracy theory content. Otherwise, you'll run the risk of having your videos get a yellow icon at the least, to having your channel demonetize or terminate it at the most. Oh, and one more thing, YouTube has taken pains to recommend conspiracy videos less as they announced back at the start of 2019, and it has seemed to have paid off for the number of conspiracy theory videos getting recommended being cut nearly in half as a recent study showed. So even if you do stay within the lines, you might not get as much traction on your videos as you otherwise would be were you covering a different subject. Guess this is one instance where the man really keeping you down, eh? Okay, recap time. Conspiracy videos are okay as long as you make sure that your videos do not incite hate or violence. Provide advice that could harm people and be recognized of the fact that I might not get recommended by YouTube as much. As always, let us know if you have any questions in the comment section below, and don't forget to like, subscribe, and ring that notification bell icon. This has been Freedom Quick Tips. See you all in the next video. Goodbye!