Frankfurt am Main, 22. July 2019
Effort aims to improve fairness and transparency for video creators working on online platforms
IG Metall, the largest trade union in Europe, and the Youtubers Union, an association of online video creators, announced today a joint initiative to improve the working conditions of YouTubers who earn income, or aim to, from the videos they upload to the YouTube platform. Several thousand people in Germany alone rely on advertising earnings from YouTube videos either as a main or important supplementary income source.
The Youtubers Union was founded by YouTuber Jörg Sprave in March 2018. The catalyst: in Spring 2017, as a result of pressure from advertisers, YouTube drastically changed its rules for assigning advertising to videos. This led to dramatic declines in income for many YouTubers. Since its establishment in Spring 2018, over 15,000 members have joined the Youtubers Union and support its goals of improving fairness and transparency for YouTubers. Among other demands, the Youtubers Union calls on YouTube to:Make public and clear its rules, categories, and decision making processes when assigning advertising to videos, recommending and hiding videos, or closing channels;Provide YouTube Partners a human contact person; andMake it possible for smaller channels to earn advertising revenue again.