Over the last few years, we’ve heard many instances of video being ‘demonetized’ when containing offensive content. It’s never been very clear what context the material must be in to classify a video as “ineligible for advertising”. YouTube’s Self-Certification hopes to clearly layout what is and isn’t monetizable.

YouTube’s Rate your content with Self-Certification post in their Help Center hopes to make their outward appearance more transparent, with an in-depth guide to monetization. It details what sort of video can display ads, only limited ads, or no ads, depending on the content of the video.

The guide details whether ads can run on videos such as news videos, music videos, comedy video that contain topics such as inappropriate language, adult content, violence, harmful or dangerous acts, recreational drugs content, hateful content, firearms-related content, or sensitive issues.

Should your video be uploaded and demontized, hopefully this guide will help you understand why and whether you should appeal the decision.

YouTube’s newly introduced Checking icon is another attempt of them clearing up the monetization process.