YouTube Allows Strong Profanity in Early Video Seconds for Full Monetization

YouTube has updated its monetization policies to allow creators to use strong profanity, including the word "fuck," within the first seven seconds of their videos without losing full ad revenue. This change was confirmed by Conor Kavanagh, YouTube's head of monetization policy experience, and reflects a shift from previous rules that restricted monetization for early use of profanity to align with broadcast standards. Advertisers now have more control to target content based on their preferred level of profanity, reducing the need for a buffer between ads and offensive language. Despite this relaxed policy, monetization will still be limited if profanity is used in video titles or thumbnails, or if videos contain a high frequency of strong profanity, which violates advertiser-friendly guidelines. The change addresses longstanding creator concerns, including criticism from YouTuber ProZD, whose earlier protest against the former policy led to demonetization of his video. YouTube emphasizes that creators should still be selective about their use of strong language to maintain monetization eligibility.