HONG KONG - 2019/04/21: In this photo illustration the American video-sharing website Youtube logo ... [+]
This post has been updated: YouTube recently responded to the pending negotiations standoff between the company and the YouTubers Union backed by IG Metall.
Last Friday, the YouTubers Union joined with IG Metall to start FairTube, a campaign that advocates for greater transparency from the YouTube company and a greater voice for independent creators on the platform in decision-making.
It's a joint venture between the newest union in a field that's not accustomed to collective action (the YouTubers Union only boasts around 15,000 and became active in 2018) and one of the oldest and largest unions in Europe. IG Metall started as a German metalworkers union 125 years ago and grew to be 2.3 million strong today, with more fields like plastics and IT under its umbrella.
One of the reasons that union activity hasn't been common among YouTube creators is that YouTube doesn't employ them. Creators are YouTube's partners and make money from ad revenue and merchandising. Traditional union demands like higher wages would be unnecessary in this context. The YouTubers Union and IG Metall have accordingly modified their message. FairTube focuses on improving the partnership between creator and company in decision-making and policy enforcement in a way that's familiar to many other fields but new for social media.
The biggest debate surrounding YouTube this year has been its Community Guidelines. Scandals like the discovery of secret pedophile rings and conspiracy theorists generated criticism that the company was too lax in its policy enforcement. Meanwhile, the Crowder-Maza controversy sparked protests that these policies were either too restrictive or not enough. YouTube has heavily exploited its demonetization tool in an attempt to find a happy medium, stopping short of removing controversial content and keeping creators and the public in the dark on how these type of decisions are reached.
Given that demonetization has been an issue for creators on the platform for years, it's no coincidence that greater clarity on demonetization procedures is the first demand that FairYouTube makes on its website and greater transparency is a common theme on its list. It's an issue that personal for YouTubers Union founder, Jörg Sprave. He's a YouTuber himself who has accumulated over 2 million followers with his slingshot videos, many of which were removed in a YouTube crackdown on weapons-related content with little recourse.
The YouTube that the YouTubers Union and IG Metall want to achieve is one where creators have a larger voice. This begins with creators having a human contact to discuss and contest YouTube policy decisions but includes, according to FairTube's demands, the more traditional union goals of an independent mediation board and YouTuber Advisory Board that can allow for the formal participation of YouTubers in company decision-making.
YouTube states that the company already incorporates feedback from creators in its decision-making process and plans to do more of this in the future. Programs like YouTube Studio and Creator Insider and a greater social media presence are efforts to be more transparent and helpful to its creative community. Nevertheless, the company also has a responsibility to its advertisers. Monetization is less a company decision than a brand's willingness to air advertisements on certain types of videos. A union challenge may be the wrong platform to address issues with the company-creator partner relationship.
We're deeply invested in creators' success, that's why we share the majority of revenue with them. We also need to ensure that users feel safe and that advertisers feel confident that YouTube is safe for their brand. We take lots of feedback as we work to get this balance right, including by meeting with hundreds of creators every year. However, contrary to what is being claimed, YouTube creators are not YouTube employees by legal status.
The YouTubers Union and IG Metall seem to be willing to put a lot behind this effort. They've given YouTube 4 weeks to accept their invitation to enter negotiations. If this deadline is not met, they've threatened to sue the company for both false employment and data protection violations under the European Union's General Data Protection Regulation. If successful, these lawsuits could upend YouTube's business model.
Still, a lot of questions remain when it comes to how effective a European union-backed challenge to YouTube's operations will be in changing the company's policies worldwide or galvanizing a creator base unused to this traditional type of collective action. FairTube is not the first attempt by creators to band together. In 2016, 18 of Vine's top 20 creators tried to leverage their value to the company to get Vine to pay each of them $1.2 million, roll out several product changes to prevent creator harassment, and open up a more direct line of communication in exchange for three vines per week.
This effort fizzled out once creators were stonewalled by the company, and Vine would shut down a year later, but it does demonstrate how creators with larger platforms may be able to use their fame to wrest concessions. FairTube doesn't have this advantage yet. YouTubers with large platforms haven't spoken out about the campaign, depriving it of needed publicity and potential leverage at the negotiating table.
The lack of a social media buzz surrounding FairTube also jeopardizes its ability to go any further than Europe when it comes to changing YouTube's policies. FairTube is challenging the company under EU laws while backed by a European union. Sprave explicitly acknowledges that YouTube may move just enough to comply with EU laws without any major change in other areas, creating a type of "caste system" with only European creators reaping the benefits of the FairTube campaign.
Ultimately, FairTube is a test of whether traditional union methods have a place in advocating for creator interests on a novel platform like YouTube, and it's a sign of the platform's continuing maturation. It may have started as a place where people with shaky cameras and a penchant for comedy could upload videos they made during their free time for a few thousand people, but YouTube and its creators make money now. Inspired by success stories, being a YouTuber as a career is not as insane today as it was a decade ago.
But for the middle-of-the-road creators who aren't making millions from viral videos, the platform is still a ways away from being a safe and secure place to make a living. Just like any other occupation, independent creators and the YouTube company will have to figure out how to best work together to make YouTube a fairer place for all involved.
