The Bird Box Challenge may have been a short-lived trend, but its impact has changed YouTube for good.
Many content creators participated in the viral challenge (based on the hit Netflix movie) of attempting everyday activities while blindfolded; some even pushed the envelope and got their videos taken down.
Video: Hilarious Bird Box/Office Mashup
Seems ridiculous the company would have to warn against encouraging viewers to engage in potentially deadly stunts as part of a “challenge” but that’s just what they did this week, writing:
“We’ve updated our external guidelines to make it clear that challenges like the Tide pod challenge or the Fire challenge, that can cause death and/or have caused death in some instances, have no place on YouTube.”
They didn’t mention the Bird Box challenge by name, but with teens wearing blindfolds while in uncontrolled environments — even while driving — in videos, it’s clear the inspiration behind the change.
YouTube said current videos which violated the new policy would have a grace period of up to two months before being removed, with no strikes against the channels.
While they were at it, they decided to shore up the safety guidelines for “pranks” as well:
“We’ve made it clear that our policies prohibiting harmful and dangerous content also extend to pranks with a perceived danger of serious physical injury. We don’t allow pranks that make victims believe they’re in serious physical danger – for example, a home invasion prank or a drive-by shooting prank. We also don’t allow pranks that cause children to experience severe emotional distress, meaning something so bad that it could leave the child traumatized for life.”
That last part was a long time coming.
You may remember back in 2017 the infamous DaddyoFive parents who routinely “pranked” their child with psychologically abusive screaming and smashing things. It’s about time YouTube said IN ADVANCE not to do that.
It may seem like safety wheels, but hey — some of the people putting up videos have been harming more than just themselves.
What do YOU think of YouTube’s new guidelines??
[Image via Netflix/YouTube.]
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