This article is based on this video about how YouTube is being sued. I am not going to get into the merits of the lawsuit. It has always been obvious to me that the “ad-free” part of YouTube Premium would only cover the platform itself, but I can still see why those suing YouTube might still be annoyed. The content creator still needs to make money. I must admit that even I find host-read ads somewhat annoying, and it seems like, with AI, they could easily be rejected.
These opinions are entirely my own and should not be taken as official or as advice. I wish social media companies were more transparent about their revenue sources. Content creators also have other ways to earn money, such as Patreon and channel memberships. If ad sales weren’t a primary income stream, perhaps there would be fewer low-quality AI-generated videos.
I understand that fewer people would use social media if these companies were required to charge, but this would prevent companies like Meta and Google from engaging in shady practices to generate revenue. Having seen people complain about the grind of making videos, I do think that if people were unable to make money from content creation, it might benefit their mental health. Many people these days are shunning the regular 9-to-5, but at least having a job you hate gives you something to step away from. It’s always good to do what you’re passionate about, but the danger is that you stop seeing it as work, and therefore you no longer have a work-life balance.