YouTube Backtracks on its Controversial Verification Changes

If you have been paying attention to the YouTube news in recent days, you will have certainly have come across some of the backlash surrounding the recent decision by the platform to change the manner in which it provides content creators with ‘verification’.

Put simply, YouTube has shifted the goalposts somewhat in order to make being verified harder and, by proxy, had begun removing it from channels who didn’t quite make the grade under the new system.

Following a post on Twitter, however, Susan Wojcicki of Google (who owns YouTube) has confirmed that at least the for the moment, the company is backtracking on their decision and any accounts recently unverified will be reinstated shortly!

The irony that this was posted from a ‘Verified’ Twitter account was not, incidentally, lost on me either!

YouTube Backtracks on New Verification Rules

In announcing the step-back from the new regulations, YouTube has still confirmed that they do plan to restructure the ‘verification’ system. In order to clarify this further, they released the below graphic. This is intended to give users a clear idea as to where you need to be. Specifically, to get that verified status moving forward.

This isn’t, of course, the first time that a social media platform has fallen afoul of the verification system. Twitter, for example, has had to regularly tweak its rules and regulations over this.

In the event that you did recently lose your verification status on the platform, however, the good news is that you should be getting it back shortly.

What do you think? Is (was?) this new system a bad idea? – Let us know in the comments!