YouTube reportedly lets its most popular creators get away with more

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YouTube creator Logan Paul is one of the creators mentioned by YouTube moderators as receiving preferential treatment.

• YouTube is the most popular video platform in the world.
• As YouTube has grown, it's struggled to police the platform.
• A new report from The Washington Post claims that YouTube moderation favors leniency for the platform's most popular channels - like Felix "PewDiePie" Kjellberg and Logan Paul.
• YouTube denies those allegations in a statement on Friday afternoon: "We apply these policies consistently, regardless of who a creator is," said YouTube representative Alex Joseph.
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With billions of visitors every month, YouTube is the largest video platform on the planet.

Alongside that massive size comes a massive issue: Moderation. YouTube has repeatedly run into controversies over how it polices content that violates its own guidelines, whether it's filming a dead body or one creator harassing another creator (or any number of other YouTube-related controversies over the years).

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According to a new Washington Post report, there's a good reason for all the issues: Some of YouTube's most popular creators are allowed more flexibility with the platform's rules.

YouTube

Felix "PewDiePie" Kjellberg.

The report cites 11 past and current YouTube moderators who claim that big names like Logan Paul, Steven Crowder, and Felix "PewDiePie" Kjellberg are given more rope when receiving YouTube content moderation.

For its part, YouTube denies the claim and says that it applies the same policies "consistently, regardless of who a creator is."

Read more: YouTube's week from hell: How the debate over free speech online exploded after a conservative star with millions of subscribers was accused of homophobic harassment

The relationship between YouTube and its biggest creators is mutually beneficial.

Simply speaking: The more subscribers a channel has, and the more views a channel gets, the higher the price to run ads. YouTube makes more money from those ad sales, and the channel's owner makes more money from YouTube. And, often, the first step in moderating YouTube's content is demonetizing a video - taking away its ability to make money on ads.

It's for this reason, the moderators who spoke with the Washington Post say, that YouTube lets its biggest creators get away with more.

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