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- YouTube executive Neal Mohan said Thursday at VidCon that the video platform will update its policies "later this year" regarding "creator-on-creator harassment."
- YouTube says Mohan's comments about policy updates were referring to YouTube's announcement in April that the platform takes creators experiencing harassment "very seriously."
- The reference to "creator-on-creator" harassment follows events in June where a Vox journalist spoke out about a right-wing YouTuber referring to him using homophobic and racist language.
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YouTube is working on changes to its policies regarding "creat0r-on-creator harassment" that will come "later this year," company executive Neal Mohan said Thursday at VidCon.
Mohan said updates to abuse policies would be coming in a speech at VidCon, a gathering of thousands of online video creators and professionals taking place in Anaheim, California. Mohan didn't provide any further details on what those updates would entail.
"Later this year, we will be updating our approach to harassment, particularly creator-on-creator harassment," Mohan said during his keynote speech. "This work is just as important to the YouTube community as any product launch."
A YouTube spokesperson told Business Insider that Mohan was referring to YouTube CEO's Susan Wojcicki letter to creators in April, where she said the platform "will do more to discourage" harassment there. The spokesperson also referred Business Insider to an announcement in June, where YouTube said it would be "taking a hard look" at its policies and "aim to update them."
Creator-on-creator harassment on YouTube has gotten significantly more attention in the past couple months after a Vox journalist named Carlos Maza spoke out about right-wing YouTube personality Steven Crowder harassing him in online videos using homophobic and racist remarks. YouTube decided that Crowder's videos didn't violate its harassment policies and kept his videos online, a decision that prompted backlash from both employees inside YouTube and those in the community.
A YouTube spokesperson told CNET that the coming updates to creator-on-creator harassment policies are not in reaction to the Maza-Crowder incident.
"Not everyone will agree with the calls we make," YouTube said in a June blog post. "If we were to take all potentially offensive content down, we'd be losing valuable speech."
In Thursday's keynote speech at VidCon, Mohan also introduced a flurry of new ways for creators to make revenue on the platform. This includes new features on live streams and multi-level channel memberships that fans can purchase, and a fleshed-out opportunity for creators to sell their merchandise on YouTube.