History Platform / YouTube

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[[https://www.youtube.com YouTube]] is TheInternet's most popular video-sharing site, that has achieved worldwide popularity since it launched in 2005. While the official purpose of the site is to host amateur videos and promotional clips, it is unofficially the place where you can watch copyrighted materials from all types of mediums, search for random/odd clips and/or check out the latest blog entries and videos from notable users. It was founded by programming students Chad Hurley, Steve Chen, and Jawed Karim; the idea came to Karim when he had trouble finding clips of two major events in 2004: The Boxing Day Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami and later Music/JanetJackson's WardrobeMalfunction at that year's UsefulNotes/SuperBowl halftime show.

[[redirect:Platform.YouTube]]

Moving to Platform.YouTube now.

Moving to Platform.Youtube now.

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[[caption-width-right:350:[[{{Slogans}} Broadcast Yourself.]]]]

-> ''"What happens in D.C. stays on [=YouTube=]!"''
-->-- '''[[Creator/JeffDunham Walter]]'''

[[https://www.youtube.com YouTube]] is TheInternet's most popular video-sharing site, that has achieved worldwide popularity since it launched in 2005. While the official purpose of the site is to host amateur videos and promotional clips, it is unofficially the place where you can watch copyrighted materials from all types of mediums, search for random/odd clips and/or check out the latest blog entries and videos from notable users. It was founded by programming students Chad Hurley, Steve Chen, and Jawed Karim; the idea came to Karim when he had trouble finding clips of two major events in 2004: The Boxing Day Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami and later Music/JanetJackson's WardrobeMalfunction at that year's UsefulNotes/SuperBowl halftime show.

Prior to Website/{{Google}}'s purchase of the company in November 2006, [=You=]Tube was a much smaller place. It hosted communication between individuals, who used it visually in otherwise the same manner as they had previously used Usenet or IRC. [=You=]Tube was also once the host of a number of people who had alternative news and media shows, but the opinions of such people were often extreme, or otherwise politically incorrect, and most of them have now been banned.

Users can upload their videos on whatever subject they want (unless it violates the "Community Guidelines" or someone files a copyright claim). The quality often ranges from below Creator/EdWood-type works to studio-quality materials, depending on what it is. Surprisingly, a lot of the personal videos of individuals often do have something to say that are actually worth watching and listening to. Some of the material is actually supplied by studios, including music videos that were uploaded by authorized agents of the record company. It should be noted that [=YouTube=] is also a place to watch movies and shows that [[KeepCirculatingTheTapes have never been officially released]], or are [[NoExportForYou unavailable anywhere else]].

A list of [=YouTubers=] with pages on this site can be found [[YouTubers HERE]].

Works produced by [=YouTube=] itself include ''WebVideo/YouTubeRewind'' and WebVideo/WebdriverTorso.
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%%Due to the contentious nature of the site, and the fact the site itself isn't really tropable, please do not add tropes to this page. Thank you.
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!!This website is the TropeNamer for:
* InstantHumiliationJustAddYouTube
* PleaseSubscribeToOurChannel
* VirtualYouTuber
* YouTubeKidsChannel
* YouTubePoop
* YouTuberApologyParody
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->''This [[TheStinger stinger]] is no longer available due to a copyright claim by JustForFun/StatlerAndWaldorf Studios.''\\
''Sorry about that.''
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[[https://www.youtube.com YouTube]] is a video-sharing site that has achieved worldwide popularity since it launched in 2005. While the official purpose of the site is to host amateur videos and promotional clips, it is unofficially the place where you can watch copyrighted materials from all types of mediums, search for random/odd clips and/or check out the latest blog entries and videos from notable users. It was founded by programming students Chad Hurley, Steve Chen, and Jawed Karim; the idea came to Karim when he had trouble finding clips of two major events in 2004: The Boxing Day Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami and later Music/JanetJackson's WardrobeMalfunction at that year's UsefulNotes/SuperBowl halftime show.

[[https://www.youtube.com YouTube]] is a video sharing site that has achieved worldwide popularity since it launched in 2005. While the official purpose of the site is to host amateur videos and promotional clips, it is unofficially the place where you can watch copyrighted materials from all types of mediums, search for random / odd clips and/or check out the latest blog entries and videos from notable users. It was founded by programming students Chad Hurley, Steve Chen, and Jawed Karim; the idea came to Karim when he had trouble finding clips of two major events in 2004: The South Asian tsunami and later Music/JanetJackson's WardrobeMalfunction at that year's UsefulNotes/SuperBowl halftime show.

Users can upload their videos on whatever subject they want (unless it violates the "Community Guidelines" or someone files a copyright claim). The quality often ranges from below Creator/EdWood-type works to studio quality materials, depending on what it is. Surprisingly, a lot of the personal videos of individuals often do have something to say that are actually worth watching and listening to. Some of the material is actually supplied by studios, including music videos which were uploaded by authorized agents of the record company. It should be noted that [=YouTube=] is also a place to watch movies and shows that [[KeepCirculatingTheTapes have never been officially released]], or are [[NoExportForYou unavailable anywhere else]].

[[https://www.youtube.com YouTube]] is a video sharing site that has achieved worldwide popularity since it launched in 2005. While the official purpose of the site is to host amateur videos and promotional clips, it is unofficially the place where you can watch copyrighted materials from all types of mediums, search for random / odd clips and/or check out the latest blog entries and videos from notable users. It was founded by programming students Chad Hurley, Steve Chen, and Jawed Karim; the idea came to Karim when he had trouble finding clips of two major events in early 2004: The South Asian tsunami and later Music/JanetJackson's WardrobeMalfunction at that year's UsefulNotes/SuperBowl halftime show.

* YouTubeWarExpert

A list of prominent [=YouTubers=] can be found [[YouTubers HERE]].

* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: Dig deep enough into the wayback machine, and you'll find that it was actually originally a ''dating website.''

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%%Due to the contentious nature of the site, and the fact the site itself isn't really tropable, please do not add tropes to this page. Thank you.
%%

On any given day, you can find:

[[folder:[=YouTube=] Video Staples]]

* EpicFail videos, which mainly consist of someone trying and failing to pull off a stunt.
* Snarky blogs by online users.
* The latest trailer for a major movie release, usually copied off a website, or as the service has become more popular, released directly by the studios.
* Cat videos.
* Durability tests wherein an electronic device is either smashed with a sledgehammer, lit on fire, or shot with a gun.
* Several videos from a recently-held sporting event (bonus points if it involves a ridiculously improbable shot or goal).
* Political commentary videos.
* Videos promoting conspiracy theories, usually something along the lines of a musician being a member of TheIlluminati.
* Parts of the latest episode of ''Series/AmericasNextTopModel''.
* ''Series/AmericanIdol''/''Series/BritainsGotTalent'' performances.
* A spam filter for the comments section.
* A video that's been marked as age-restricted despite the content being similar to non-restricted videos.
* A video that had its audio removed due to one of its music tracks not being authorized by a major record label.
* A video removed for terms of use violation (most times for obvious reasons, though other times, it's anyone's guess why).
* A video removed for copyright infringement (often times, the user would get a warning strike for that, And then they are forced to watch The WebAnimation/HappyTreeFriends episode: ''Youtube Copyright School'' and take the trivia questions about Copyright).
* A video removed because the [=YouTube=] account associated with that video is deleted (for example: The account was banned due to Multiple or Severe Community Guideline Violation, or Multiple or Severe Copyright Violation, or they just closed their account).
* A video removed by the user of his or her own accord for reasons unknown.
* A video set to private for inexplicable reasons even though it was public when you added it to your playlist.
* Videos of people doing everyday, ordinary things, or just playing around.
* Videos complaining about [=YouTube=] censorship.
* [[ScreamerPrank Screamers]] and {{Jump Scare}}s in general[[labelnote:(protip)]]Reading comments before watching the video may help people to avoid nasty surprises (therefore, a video with disabled comments is a further reason to get suspicious); additionally, as of March 2012, an update allows to see thumbnails for any given moment in the video by moving the cursor, thus helping further with spotting a screamer in advance[[/labelnote]].
* The occasional JustForFun/{{Rickroll}}.
* WebAnimation/YoutubePoop.
* Video game {{Lets Play}}s and walkthroughs.
* A video of someone taking something out of a box.
* A prank that's not related to [[ScreamerPrank Screamers]].
* Videos with millions of views about people talking about absolutely anything while playing video games.
* Videos that begin with a montage of parts of games put to a song as an intro.
* Videos that end by asking the viewer to [[PleaseSubscribeToOurChannel subscribe to the channel]].
* [[WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipisMagic Pony videos]].
* [[AnimatedMusicVideo Animated Music Videos]].
* [[Franchise/TheSlenderManMythos Strange videos featuring a tall, faceless businessman.]]
* {{Anime}} - usually in several parts and fansubbed/dubbed.
* Commercials so old that even your grandmother hasn't seen them.
* Commercials so weird even your grandmother can't make sense of them.
* Concert footage shot on low-resolution cell phones.
* Tons of [[CosplayOtakuGirl cosplay otaku girls and guys]], for [[{{Fanservice}} good]] or [[FanDisservice ill]].
* Tens of thousands of fake emergency alert tests. Many real EAS and EBS videos (mainly tests and tornado warnings) have been uploaded over the years.
** Don't forget the hate videos that popped right the fuck out of nowhere in 2011 and were forgotten as if they never happened.
* Episodes of still-running or forgotten TV shows. Some users will trick people into viewing their video by uploading a spoof image of an expected episode and filling it with spam, a still image, or a link to their own site instead. However, a portion of the site is dedicated to officially uploaded full seasons/series for shows ranging in age from the 60's to the late 00's. [[OfferVoidInNebraska Not outside the US (and sometimes Canada and/or the UK)]].
* {{Fanime}}s / {{fanvid}}s.
* Flash animation videos from sites like Website/{{Newgrounds}} or Website/NicoNicoDouga.
* [[GagSub Funny captions that are (for the most part) way, way off from what's being spoken.]]
* [[LetsPlay Video]] [[SpeedRun Game]] [[WebVideo/TheAngryVideoGameNerd playthroughs]] (especially of older or [[NoExportForYou not-exported]] games, or NintendoHard PlatformHell titles complete with [[SirSwearsALot expletive]]-[[{{Angrish}} laden]] running commentary.
** VideoGame/{{Audiosurf}} videos. Search "audiosurf [insert name of song]" and you'll find said song being played.
** Similarly, videos of ''VideoGame/GuitarHero'' and ''VideoGame/RockBand'' charts.
** VideoGame/{{Minecraft}} videos.
* Old movies in multiple parts or in one long video. These will either be public domain, or so old/obscure the current copyright holder either doesn't know or doesn't care that it's up on Youtube. Still best to watch them quick in case they do decide to take it down. But sometimes, if you're lucky, it was the copyright holder themselves that uploaded the film, perhaps hoping to make money off ad revenue because they can't profit from the film any other way.
* Parodies of almost any popular song you can imagine.
* Popular scenes and moments from movies, TV shows, and the like.
* A song, particularly a music videos, played backwards (or, if the lyrics don't match the video's visuals, a "literal music video").
* Video game cutscenes.
* Videos of alleged ghost, Bigfoot and UFO sightings (that usually end up being... say it with us and cringe... [[JumpScare screamers]]). A helpful tip: turn your volume off and read the comments before watching these videos.
* Videos of amateur performances of everything from covers of popular songs, to performances of original songs written by whoever is singing them, pre-taped videos of everything from school plays to dance recitals, etc.
* Videos of animals being cute.
* Videos of animals being terrifying.
* Videos of people making stunts with skateboards, snowboards, parkour or other extreme sports.
* Instruction videos of everything from making push ups to sewing Victorian era ball gowns.
* Videos with the {{Mondegreen}}s {{invoked}} of what the words sound like to an English (or any other language) speaker.
* Videos wherein the author rants on some topic of religion, evolution vs. creationism, or politics.
* Videos promoting UsefulNotes/MisplacedNationalism and insulting a country or ethnicity, or just [[FlameWar comments doing the same thing]] on a video that isn't promoting Misplaced Nationalism and just happens to be about a particular country.
* Videos of people doing really stupid things.
* [[ReactionShot Reaction videos]], either of [[ShockSite something very nasty]], or popular TV shows. Yes, there is an entire Youtube genre of watching people watch tv. Arguably the most famous of these are reactions to the Red Wedding from ''Series/GameOfThrones'', where fans who've read [[Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire the books]] had set up hidden cameras to record their friends and family's horrified reactions to the massacre.
* Videos by fans, employees, and even '''creators''' of animatronic pizza parlor characters like CEC Florida, Big Cheese, therockafire, and Bren Bill.
* Videos by the Seven Awesome Kids channels.
* Cringe compilations.
* Videos of politicians saying things they just went on record as denying having ever said.
* Videos of songs being performed in music-composing programs, including ''Mario Paint Composer''.
* Videos of tourists driving or walking through foreign cities. Alternately, people conducting drives or walkthroughs of their hometown.
* Videos ultimately complaining about [=YouTube=]'s copyright policy, or how to bypass it.
* Videos labeled "Bloopers" that turn out to be ''fanmade'' bloopers.
* Videos redirecting you to a website saying that you can watch the video there - that will force you to take a survey, never allow you to watch the video, and ''send you spam''.
* Videos that have virus links. There's always ''one'' up. Most notably the spam you've been seeing on your Facebook profile, disguised as a link to something "shocking!". Either that, or it's a video saying it's the full movie of a film still in theaters, when it's really just a screencap or at most a trailer, with virus links in the description.
* Videos of kids throwing temper tantrums when asked to go off the computer and leave their online games.
* Short video clips of rage scenes (Such as Penn Jillette's [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LkNvPkOUhaI YOU NEED TO SHUT THE (BLEEP) UP!]].) Quite often use for ''A Message to (Bad Users/Trolls/Cyberbullies).''
* Videos of ''adults'' throwing temper tantrums when someone goes around and starts [[{{Griefer}} sabotaging games]].
* ''WebVideo/BarneyBunch'' videos that never seem to get flagged.
* Haul videos, wherein somebody displays and discusses the items that she/he bought during a recent shopping trip. These items can be anything from designer shoes to dental floss.
** "Unboxing" videos which go beyond "someone taking something out of a box" through "video dissertation on the quality of the packaging" to "video ''rant'' about the quality of the packaging."
* "X does Y for Z minutes", basically a particular scene looped around for a few minutes.
* A cell-phone shot video.
* Episodes of short-running TV series most people didn't even know existed.
* Videos with [[TheGrotesque deformed people or animals]], either real or a SpecialEffectsFailure. Comments will usually have people wondering how they ended up at the weird side of [=Youtube=] again.
* [[LoopholeAbuse Mirrored copies]] of videos taken down for unknown terms of use violations (most often false-flagged DMCA notices).
* JustForFun/{{Caramelldansen Vid}}s
* 10 hour loops of memetic songs such as JustForFun/{{Rickroll}} and Trololo.
* 10 hour loops of anything in general. Why not enjoy [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cE7jcRCIIkY Space Core]] for 10 hours?
* Music that's extended to insane lengths.
* Machinima/SuperMario64Bloopers.
* VideoGame/{{Touhou}} music remixes ranging from Music/{{IOSYS}}-style [[WhatDoYouMeanItWasntMadeOnDrugs denpa]] to [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z6aywyjNKTY J-Metal in English]].
* Combat footage from [[UsefulNotes/TheWarOnTerror Iraq and Afghanistan]], mostly from helmet cameras.
* [[InsistentTerminology Defense]]-related[[labelnote:Note]]and by "defense," we actually mean "military"[[/labelnote]] news channels that frequently use [[ComputerVoice voice synthesizers]] to narrate the news--usually resulting in awkward pronunciations of military terminology/jargon, acronyms, names, or awkward pauses between lines. And said news items are usually lifted from actual defense websites (e.g.: IHS Jane's), blogs (e.g.: War is Boring), and newsletters anyway. But [[SturgeonsLaw once in a while]], one may be lucky to stumble upon a defense-related news channel that has actual interviews of people who work within the defense industry and has media coverage of various defense/aerospace expos around the world.
* News channels that may or may not be of dubious veracity or authenticity--[[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking and]] are not even satirical news shows similar to ''Series/TheDailyShow''. These channels would also have clickbait-y headlines and video that's copied (usually without permission) from legitimate television news outlets while passing themselves off as a legit news channel.
* Amateur DIY videos revealing the "secret trick" to taking the radio out of an '88 Dodge or repacking the CV joints on a 2003 Honda with titles like "taking the [thingamabob] out of your [whatsit]".
* Self-proclaimed [[ShakingTheRump "booty shaking"]] videos. Music/MileyCyrus might have made "twerk" a household word in 2013, but the phenomenon got started on [=YouTube=] long before the term itself was in common parlance.
* WebOriginal/{{Vine}} Compilations. Usually of all the above.
* Fetish porn, which gets around Youtube's policies by not showing sex or nudity. This includes official previews from professional sites, pirated full videos from said sites (until they're taken down), and amateur videos. Note this also means that completely innocuous videos that happen to be "[[ADateWithRosiePalms useful]]" are also shared among fetish communities. That funny video of your ticklish friend laughing through a pedicure? [[RuleThirtyFour Someone's masturbating to it as we speak]].
* Lots and lots of [[TopTenList Top 10 Lists]], most likely by WebVideo/WatchMojo or one of their imitators.
* Good old fashioned [[http://youtu.be/Fd9CxIlkjpk Paint Drying]].
* [[AnimationMeme Animation memes.]]
** Cringe compilations of animation memes, usually featuring ones of very amateurish quality.
* {{Dramatic Reading}}s of [[CopyPasta copy]][=/=][[CreepyPasta creepy]] pastas, greentexts, etc, sometimes with sound effects. These are referred to as "storytimes."
* Animated videos where the narrator talks about their life or opinions. These youtubers are sometimes said to be part of "the animation squad".
* Removal of features for no good reason, despite community backlash.
[[/folder]]

* The latest trailer for a major movie release, usually copied off a website.

[[caption-width-right:350:[[{{Slogans}} Broadcast Yourself]]]]

* Combat footage from [[TheWarOnTerror Iraq and Afghanistan]], mostly from helmet cameras.

* YouTubers

!! "Please Don't Forget to Like, Subscribe and Click on the Bell to Be Notified when Our Tropes are Updated":
* AprilFoolsDay: One each year, in the same vein as Google, from 2008-2016 with it making an apparent return in 2019.
* AvoidTheDreadedGRating: After [=YouTube=] settled with the FTC over allegations it violated the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), creators are now required to mark if their videos are directed at kids. All child-directed content no longer can get personalized ads, and those who mislabel their videos could be fined. To avoid possible revenue hits, many creators shifted away from producing family-friendly videos by adding more mature content.
* BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor: Before 2013, two highly requested features for the comments section were to remove the 500 character limit and allow links to be posted again. Come the 2013 Comments Section Update and users got both features... [[{{GIFT}} and everything that came with them]].
** Similarly , the Adpocalypse of 2018 led to [=YouTube=] trying to promote themselves as "Family friendly" in order to get Advertisers to return and adult only content to be ad unfriendly....only for it to be revealed they were violating COPPA as a result, leading to an increase in adult only content in return. Oops.
* BerserkButton: Content ID for both creators and users alike, in no part because of how broken the system is.
* ButtMonkey: Animators. They tend to get the least exposure from the site, especially after the algorithm change in 2013 destroyed their way of getting noticed and earning revenue. During 2017, when there was a huge boost in popularity for them, [[HopeSpot they were finally included in the 2017 edition]] of ''WebVideo/YouTubeRewind''... [[spoiler:for the ''credits'']].
* DissonantSerenity: Whenever people decide to change the topic of their entire video from 'entertainment' to 'news' that's serious, the video seems to always surround satirical videos intended to lure their audience in, and because people will forget about the topic due to it being of a different presentation than the content they're known for, the video also gets lost in the channel's iconic category. What this unintentionally causes is distrust among people who notice this because it shows that the person doesn't actually care about their own or other people's issues and only cares about entertaining, which isn't a morally white self-image.
* EasterEgg: The site used to have a lot of these. Sadly, not a lot of them work anymore, but there are still a select few that do.
** Type in "awesome" when playing a video in fullscreen. [[spoiler:The red time bar will become a flashing rainbow bar.]]
** Right-click on a video, and choose the option “Stats for nerds". [[spoiler:It will give you a rundown of statistics of the video you’re watching, including dimensions, frames and volume percentage.]]
* FlameWar: You can locate them on many videos. Some span over weeks, months, or even ''years'' [[ThreadNecromancer if someone replies to an age-old comment]].
* GameBreakingBug:
** As discovered by LetsPlay/{{Markiplier}} sometime in November 2019, emote spamming in livestream chats can apparently [[https://www.reddit.com/r/youtube/comments/dtrbi1/youtube_has_a_huge_problemmarkipliercommunity/ get the entirety of your Google+ account banned]] (yes, not just [=YouTube=], ''all of Google''), with no reason given.
** What Google's AI considers "reused content" is a mystery to many, as much like other bot detection measures, Google does not disclose the reason why a channel would be demonetized or banned lest they make it easier to circumvent. Whatever the term means, it certainly isn't plain-old plagiarism as the [[VirtualCelebrity Virtual YouTuber]] community has [[https://www.reddit.com/r/VirtualYoutubers/comments/eveku8/knowing_the_context_of_youtubes_demonetization_of/ found themselves]] getting demonetized ''en masse'' after growing in popularity thanks to fan translators. The only lead people have to go on is that [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZtUWhsAzcRY the fan translators themselves might be the problem]] as their content may not be "transformative" enough for Google's standards (most are just clip reels with subtitles rendered on top of them), and so their AI falsely assumes that these content creators are perpetuating their content with multiple accounts.
* {{GIFT}}: The [=YouTube=] comments section can be filled with this. Quite a few [=YouTube=] videos often lampshade and parody this.
* GoneHorriblyWrong: The Coppa update has resulted in many extremely graphic videos clearly not meant for children being recommended for children. Even a '''WHOLE''' channel called [[https://www.youtube.com/user/SundanceNow "Sundance Now"]] had all of its videos flagged as such. One of the videos is [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EO0abB6gJEw a trailer of a film rated NC-17 by the MPAA]].
* {{Irony}}: In their attempt to make things safer for kids on the site by meeting with the COPPA demands, [=YouTube=] has made things much worse by marking videos containing nudity, profanity, violence and gore as made for children. One such case being [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GnF19XYRVhw a parody]] of "Do You Want To Build A Snowman" crossed over with ''[[Film/Scarface1983 Scarface]]'', which while having family-unfriendly content thrown in for comedic effect, is still marked as "for kids" largely due to the use of clips from ''WesternAnimation/{{Frozen}}''.
* ItWillNeverCatchOn: Creators who have been on the site since the beginning will tell you that being a [=YouTuber=] was something that was formerly looked down on, and that it would never be a viable career choice. Needless to say, many of those creators have since gone big and proved the naysayers wrong.
* LockedOutOfTheLoop: A major criticism of the site since Google took over.
** Many creators get understandably upset when the rules for viewership and monetization are suddenly changed with no warning, leaving many creators to wonder why their views are suddenly tanking or why their content isn't being monetized anymore.
** [=YouTube=] not communicating with its creators about problems that the site has while pretending that everything is fine has also been a major subject of criticism. Prime examples are the infamous "Lets Talk about Subscriptions" video and the increasing amount of bugs that emerged after the server-wide shutdown on October 17, 2018, and with the mass phishing attacks directed towards a number of prominent [=YouTubers=], one unfortunate example being Estonian ''Grand Theft Auto'' machinima creator Kev3n whose channel was commandeered by scammers after falling victim to a phony sponsor. Insultingly, all of Kev3n's numerous pleas to [=YouTube=] and Google management have [[CassandraTruth fallen on deaf ears]], though the site did eventually put out a warning advising content creators to enable two-factor authentication and steer clear of strangers posing as companies who claim to be offering sponsorships.
* LogicBomb: Since the COPPA update, videos have been marked as "for kids" ''even if they have been age restricted''.
* MortonsFork: After the 2018 demonetization span, [=YouTubers=] have been trying not to swear in videos, as the [=YouTube=] algorithm would flag it for unsuitable for audiences. Come 2019, and the COPPA violation forces [=YouTubers=] to be ''less'' kid-friendly, while also having to bridge the gap between demonetization (swearing) and kid-friendly (no swearing).
* NetworkDecay: Since TheNewTens, the site has been trying to make the platform more like TV, no longer focusing on individual creators and shifting their rules in favor of keeping advertisers on the site, going so far as to sabotage entire channels just to keep up a wholesome "advertiser-friendly" facade. The site has also created paid original shows and movies in an effort to compete with Netflix, Amazon and Hulu.
* NotTheIntendedUse: Many people started to use the site for uploading copyrighted content rather than uploading videos of themselves. This is reportedly why Chad, Steve, and Jawed sold off the site to Google.
* PoliticalCorrectnessGoneMad:
** The search suggestions automatically filter out curse words, sexual terms and any other term that might have any offensive connotation... Including words like "[[MistakenForRacist black]]" or "[[MistakenForPedophile child]]". Not that this prevents the user from typing in the words in any form, but it creates an effect that the developers are going out of the way to make the search engine as neutral (or ''neutered'', depending on how you see it) as possible. It also does create a weird effect when you're looking for, say, a live performance by Music/MarvinGaye and the engine suggests "Marvin ''Garvey''" to you.
** Google seems to have it out for banning or otherwise restricting relatively tame violations of their community guidelines, like [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GiZXsgdXGmA punching a feminism-advocating NPC]] in ''VideoGame/RedDeadRedemption2'' or having [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qLkKshdPyI8 literally any footage]] of the ''Franchise/MortalKombat'' franchise after its [[VideoGame/MortalKombat9 ninth installment]]. Rather bizarrely, Google seems to be okay with more extreme violations of their community guidelines, with commenters all too happy to point out examples exposing this sort of hypocrisy -- some of which have existed on the service for ''years''.
** Their NoSwastikas policy in recent years, which has caused some channels to hush out the term or the symbol itself, even if the use of Nazi iconography was more for historical or artistic reasons rather than to promote hate. But given the {{GIFT}} syndrome common with self-styled "edgelords" in this day and age, some may understand this as more of a necessity than a product of political correctness.
* ProductPlacement: To indicate that a video has product placement, you can add the "Includes paid promotion" tag to the bottom left.
* PropagandaMachine: From early 2018 onward, Google [[https://money.cnn.com/2018/02/02/media/youtube-state-funded-media-label/index.html started labelling videos from state-funded media with their country of origin]] in an effort to combat this trope.
* {{Retraux}}: In mid-2018, [=YouTube=] updated the player so it automatically adjusts its size to fit the video instead of {{letterbox}}ing it like it did beforehand. One of the things this feature does is that it makes [[https://youtu.be/jNQXAC9IVRw older videos look as they did back then]] (this does not work if the video was letterboxed to begin with, or if it was formatted in a size the player doesn't support).
* TheScapegoat: Website/GooglePlus, for its status as a Scrappy Mechanic, tends to be blamed for any bugs or problems the site experiences, whether it's the cause of them or not.
* ScrewTheRulesIHaveMoney: Do you have a bunch of subscribers who don't adblock? [[https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2019/08/09/youtubes-arbitrary-standards-stars-keep-making-money-even-after-breaking-rules/ You get held to your own set of rules]] than everyone else. [=YouTube=] moderation is only concerned with [[MoneyDearBoy advertisement revenue]], hence they ''notoriously'' are very selective about actually enforcing the rules equally if not ''period''.
** While it is not the first case, Logan Paul practically showed everyone that if you are a high roller in terms of viewers (And thus, advertisements), you can do whatever. He even tazed animals and only got a slap on the wrist.
* SturgeonsLaw: There is a good amount of professional, studio-like videos on [=YouTube=]. The only catch is that it's buried under larger heaps of unprofessional videos.
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