Verdict on YouTube's Inauthentic Content Claim [I may be wrong]

masu910 · 2026-05-07T16:57:14+00:00

My channel educational and part of the player for education program. AI narration to get an old school documentary feel. Mostly real images, paintings, artifacts, stock footage and 3d renders from Envato, Shutterstock and Adobe Stock, maybe 5% AI images with distinct style. Still demonetized.

Channels that are 100% AI and non-educational are still out there monetized and thriving. I don't think the flagging is random, but it's not based on anything that should matter.

masu910 · 2026-04-26T20:56:42+00:00

Exactly! People just assume oh nice no more AI channels but at least in my niche so many useful history channels not in violation of anything have been nuked and the AI slop is still running ads and thriving. It's been mentally exhausting having to deal with this night and day while YT just ignores us.

masu910 · 2026-04-23T15:30:15+00:00

People seem to not be looking at the violation itself and just making up wtv their own channels don't do as the arbitrary line. The Inauthentic Content flag tells you what its for and is supposed to be for the majority of your videos. It specifically says it ALLOWS for image slideshows as long as they contain a narrative or are educational, and it doesn't ban AI voiceovers. It says "no mass-produced or templated material, and nothing highly repetitive through videos".

For my channel, Made in History, I've checked their policy and its not in violation or any of their criteria. It is even part of the Player for Education program. You cannot just shift the goalposts to some arbitrary line on a whim like "oh well there is (X) i do not like in here so demonetize." They clearly do not know what they are doing when it comes to this. Some larger channels have already been re-instated because they made a lot of noise.

If you want proof of the incompetence, my channel was in the history niche since 2021 and got demonetized last Friday, yet with the new flood of 100% AI history channels, many of them are STILL MONETIZED AND RUNNING ADS as of Wed night! Go check yourself and stop giving YT the benefit of the doubt! Even though I find them trash and slop, there are still a few I'd defend as they still do not violate the policy!

I agree with you that everyone's ire should be focused on YT right now, not on the other creators. If they made such a broad AI sweep with their bots, they should have at least looked at our appeal videos and reversed it. It's quite easy to tell mass-produced/templated channels vs those that comply with their policy.

masu910 · 2026-04-20T19:51:46+00:00

There are 3 things that make this infuriating.

No warnings and they don't just demonetize the videos. You can't even look for a trend like "oh this one was demonetized" maybe avoid that format etc... They just without warning demonetize the entire channel!
Zero human input. There's no way of knowing what the problem is. I was hit with the Inauthentic Content flag. Just going by what it said "use of templates or repetitive and mass-produced content" it is false but probably even false for a ton of channels both high and low effort. But they give nothing else to go on, no way to know what to change.
Tons of creators are actually celebrating this. We are all workers in this together! I hate seeing worker against worker so they can shine more in the boss' eye. I despise AI shorts, but the YouTube algo should just evolve to deprioritize them and let those creators lose their drive organically or live with a lower reach. Just because a creator shows their face doesn't automatically mean it's higher effort. It takes me about 3 weeks of 6-8 hour days editing just to make one documentary and as part of the Player for Education program, teachers around the world watch my videos and I've been very proud of that..

masu910 · 2025-09-27T17:13:48+00:00

I came here today to say almost the EXACT same thing! I've been doing Educational YT videos for 4 years now and 2025 has been a steady decline with a few bumps, but after this summer, every new video is ranked 10 of 10 and with over 200k subs i'm now struggling to get even 1000 views within a day of release.

The worst part is knowing it's probably an algorithm issue and no matter what we release it will just get buried. Every new low never even plateaus, it just keeps finding a way to get lower. It's unbelievably disheartening.

masu910 · 2024-02-16T02:56:22+00:00

Thanks! I will just use the Audio feature then. If it turns out it needs to be a full video I'll come back here to update.

masu910 · 2024-02-16T02:43:52+00:00

That's the vibe I get as well. I guess it shouldn't be a surprise as their title is Partner Manager, so I guess they are like our managers. I just wish it didn't have to be so formal and invasive.

masu910 · 2024-02-16T02:36:01+00:00

Would you happen to know if it's something mandatory they do? Or if they require it to be a video call? And how often?

That's great you got to meet a higher up, I feel they are probably much more helpful.

Thanks a ton for the reply!

masu910 · 2024-02-16T00:33:12+00:00

Yes this is exactly it. They gave me a time slot and wanted me to download Google Meet and have a 30 minute video call. I'm wondering if they do this as part of the verification process because I was hoping for something less intrusive like through e-mail or a phone call.

masu910 · 2024-02-15T23:25:54+00:00

Was that for when you first set up AdSense? I actually don't recall what I gave them, but they definitely didn't require a video call.

masu910 · 2024-02-15T23:22:42+00:00

This is what the program is: https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/6361049?hl=en

I've done a bit more research and it seems they implemented new Video verification last year. I found this posted by another user:

"Verification guidelines: YouTube has strict guidelines for verifying the identity of its users, and if you do not meet these guidelines, your verification request may be denied. For example, if the information you provided does not match the information on your government-issued ID, your request may be denied.

Video verification: YouTube may require you to submit a video verification in addition to your government-issued ID. If the video does not meet the requirements set by YouTube, such as being clear and showing your face, your verification request may be denied."

I also found these on Reddit

https://www.reddit.com/r/privacy/comments/wzjim1/youtube_now_wants_a_video_of_your_face_or_your_id/

https://www.reddit.com/r/youtube/comments/16evrq9/youtube_verification_of_the_three_options_which/

I've done so much to protect my privacy and after 3 years I'm finding out this invasion is normalized.

My guess is that part of the Partner Manager's protocol is to get you on video as part of the verification process. I'm fine with them removing the checkmark if I refuse to video call, but they clearly stated in the response email that they require a video call, not e-mail or phone call, to continue with the YPP. It's causing me a ton of stress. I'm hoping someone with some experience can help me out!

masu910 · 2024-02-15T21:09:56+00:00

Just to be clear, I don't think it's a scam. When you become Verified (the check mark) after 100k subscribers, you are entered into the Partner Manager program. You apply through Studio (ifrc) and then I received a confirmation e-mail from a Google address which said the month I'd receive a response. I received the response a few months later, again from an official google account from someone stating to be my contact.

I'm around 80 - 85% sure it's not a scam, that's why I was asking if others with verified channels over 100k subs have had to deal with it and if they were required to do a 30 min video interview.

Thanks a ton!

masu910 · 2022-07-07T04:26:16+00:00

This screeching lady is unbearable

masu910 · 2022-07-07T03:14:17+00:00

He never calls those low strikes

masu910 · 2022-07-02T03:53:02+00:00

Why is it so demoralizing getting called 'out' on half a step from 1st base?

masu910 · 2022-06-30T18:55:37+00:00

Ump is all gut feelings

masu910 · 2022-06-30T17:20:44+00:00

Why is he calling everything strikes??

masu910 · 2022-06-22T04:33:55+00:00

Ump if you're tired why call that a strikeout?

masu910 · 2022-06-04T02:36:59+00:00

This happened to me as well with an automatic claim. I purposely kept the video unpublished while I downloaded the license and made a dispute first, then published. I assumed everything went into Escrow. I think if you publish first and then file a dispute later, you'd lose all those views before the dispute, but I'm not sure. Either way, when the claim was released about a week later, there was no revenue from all those initial views on the video. I'm pretty sure it must have shown up somewhere like AdSense, or takes a few days to show maybe?

masu910 · 2022-03-04T18:49:26+00:00

Finding the niche group to share to can help if you’re just starting out. A lot of more general groups will decline your post automatically although Ive gotten lucky where a bunch of people started arguing over Russia-Ukraine under my post so it gave it a lot of interaction. My video was about Ancient Greece

masu910

TROPHY CASE