YouTube eases profanity policy, allowing swearing in first 7 seconds of monetised videos

New Delhi: YouTube has relaxed one of its strictest monetisation rules by permitting the use of strong profanity within the first seven seconds of a video without automatically triggering limited advertising revenue.

As per the report, the update applies immediately to both long-form content and Shorts, and is set to support a wider range of creators, particularly those in genres such as gaming and reactions, where unfiltered expressions are more common at the start of a video.

Previously, use of words like “f**k” in the opening seconds would typically lead to reduced or no ad income. YouTube has stated that the original restriction was designed to align with the advertising standards of traditional television. 

However, with advertisers now having greater control over where their ads appear, the platform has introduced a more flexible policy.

“We heard a lot of creator feedback about this specific rule. Given these factors, we’ve decided to revise our policy to help creators,” said the YouTube team via Google’s support page. “This change should help improve creator earnings, particularly for gaming creators.”

Despite the updated policy, YouTube has clarified that excessive use of strong language throughout a video will still lead to restricted monetisation. Additionally, videos containing strong profanity in their titles or thumbnails will continue to be fully demonetised.